What The LA Galaxy Need This Year
- Updated: January 4, 2017
Major League Soccer’s season only ended a month ago, but come March, the 2017 season kicks off for your Galaxy.
It is a short offseason, which means teams have to make moves quickly. Los Angeles needs to get busy in the transfer window, especially with the retirement of Steven Gerrard, the second retirement of Landon Donovan and the end of Robbie Keane’s Galaxy career.
It seemed like LA were getting things together when Peter Vagenas was named General Manager and Jermaine Jones’ rights were acquired from the Colorado Rapids. However, the Galaxy are yet to do more than appoint Curt Onalfo to the head coach position to replace Bruce Arena, who is taking the reins at the United States men’s national team for the second time.
The Galaxy have not made the big acquisitions this transfer window but have released players. Brazilian defender Leonardo, who was a hazard for his surprisingly lengthy Galaxy career, was released by LA and has now been acquired by the Houston Dynamo.
Jeff Larentowicz did not receive as much playing time but he has been released and now Mike Magee has retired too. The Galaxy is going to need to get some work done before the start of the season. The sooner, the better.
Here’s what the Galaxy need this year:
A designated player (or two)
With Gerrard and Keane no longer on the payroll, LA have some room to make some moves and sign a big player here or there. Jermaine Jones seems to be a contender for that spot as his rights are now owned by the Galaxy, so he is bound to be signed any day now (unless LA have something else wild in mind).
The DP position is valuable and the Galaxy can make attractive offers to some of the biggest names in the sport due to the club’s history of success and location in the United States.
A midfielder
LA can kill two birds with one stone here. A DP and a midfielder can be found with Jones. Club president Chris Klein said that the Galaxy needed a midfielder and in Jones they have one. They can be a force again in MLS, and with the current playoff format, only a berth into the playoffs is needed to have a legitimate shot at winning MLS Cup.
Consistency
The Galaxy have been inconsistent since the 2014 MLS Cup-winning season. LA has patches during the season where they play better than any other team in the league but then will play matches where the team cannot connect three passes without losing possession.
Curt Onalfo will need to find a lineup that he likes and then run with it. It is a long season so if the Galaxy have a slow start it will not have to be a big worry for the five-time MLS champions.
Conclusion
This will be an important year for the Galaxy. It will shape the team for years to come and LA will need to be patient when new players come in. For now, there is no way to know what will happen with this team but the Galaxy can get it right if there is belief that they can.
There are a lot of voids that will need to be filled and that is surely getting taken care of already. It won’t be easy for Los Angeles, but they are capable of getting back to the heights they were at only three years ago.
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