Breaking: Versatile Romney signs new contract with Galaxy#LAGalaxy #MLS https://t.co/oOgYCPqLrd pic.twitter.com/wQKxpMw5Pb— Corner Of The Galaxy (@GalaxyPodcast) December 18, 2018
Yep his knees quit the game 2 years before he did. He was above average while here and not worth the DP money his clout gained him. But hey Juninho is back and that rocks. Hopefully his legs won't let him down when we need him as well.
Now we need to jettison Gio and use the salary cap we save from him and Ciani departing to get two new center backs.
What are immediate needs of the team going into the transfer window? Starting LB and CB for sure. Depth at wing?
Still a lot. Assuming we re-sign Ema and Pontius : - GK depth. Joe Bendik, Steve Clark or even Brian Rowe are all available in the Re-Entry Draft on Thursday. - at least one starting CB + one very solid depth, maybe two actually (depending if Romney is a starter or no). Ike Opara could be available. - if we're planning to re-sign Feltscher and play Skjelvik at LB, two very solid fullbacks. Jordan Harvey who is a free agent? - CM depth even if we keep Kitchen. McNamara is an intriguing name. - wing depth because Ema and Pontius on the left is a little bit light to me. Miguel Ibarra would be solid but don't splash too much cash on him. - forward depth (assuming Gio is gone). Everybody is happy to have Ola and Zlatan but don't forget we only have BJ4 and Pontius behind them, which is not enough IMO.
Juninho signing is great for us. With gold cup, we will lose Jonathan and Lletget for likely the whole tournament, so we will need depth. Juninho is a big upgrade or Carrasco and Husidic. I also can't believe we got Romney for only 150k. That is a steal imo. I am also reading there are a few teams interested in Gio in the MLS, but they don't like his massive salary. I think we will have to pay off part of Gio's contract. I am not sure how all that works, but I am think Gio is going to be sold soon.
I think it is. We have the same defense we had last season. Zlatan is a year older. No one knows what Juninho will be like. There has to be a reason he didn't have a club last season.
I think we sign Erik Lopez as the cheap 3rd string goalkeeper. VomSteeg will continue to be the primary backup. I agree that we need a starting RCB. Perhaps we use one of our available international spots on a legitimate proven center back. We need a backup right back for sure. Sal Zizzo and Sean Franklin are looking like available free agents. Roy Miller is also going to be a free agent. I don’t see him as starter at either center back or left back but he can provide coverage for both positions. I’d also like to see Diedie Traore signed to the first team as well, as the left back of the future for when Skjelvik is out of contract. I agree we still need a 5th CM. Perhaps either Husidic or Carrasco can be resigned for cheaper than whatever their options were. Miguel Ibarra would be solid. However if we’re able to free up funds because of Gio being moved, then perhaps we can use those funds on an international winger. Tosaint Ricketts is available on Friday in the 2nd stage of the re entry draft. He might be perfect depth if you think BJ4, Alvarez, and maybe Zubak aren’t adequate forward depth.
I think it's a mistake to pencil in Skjelvik as a left back starter. I'm a broken record on this but it bears repeating: he was moved to centerback because he wasn't good at leftback. I get trying to make the best out of a bad contract but it's a sunk cost at this point. We need to look elsewhere and we need actual fullbacks (and Rolf isn't good enough either). I'm split on Juninho. I am extremely wary of players returning to clubs and feel like it's rare to see them rediscover the form they had prior. Particularly when he hasn't played any pro minutes in over a year. That being said, if he can get back in form and play alongside Jona, allowing Lletget to play in a more attacking positions, I'd be happy. Overall, I don't expect much out of him. Romney for $150k is a good deal. Good backup player and spot starter. There have been a few guys moved within the league, Garza and Rowe specifically, that I wish we could have made trades for.
Refuerzo: Ariel Lassiter es nuevo jugador de Alajuelense, viene procedente de LA Galaxy¡Bienvenido! 🔴🦁⚫ pic.twitter.com/2T53ui8FYm— Fiebre Manuda♥️🖤 (@FiebreManuda) December 19, 2018 Ari to Alajuelense. I remember he trained with them last year. Good luck to him.
The @LAGalaxy have also re-signed midfielder Chris Pontius and defender Dave Romney for 2019. No word on the terms of Pontius' deal but @GalaxyPodcast reports that Romney will nearly double his $75,000 salary from 2018 in a 2-year contract with a 2021 option (2/2)— Kevin Baxter 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@kbaxter11) December 19, 2018 Pontius back. Good news. Twellman and Doyle are discussing about a Ola for Ike Opara trade (not a real rumour). I wouldn't give up Ola even for a good defender.
Was just about to come post that here! Ola for Opara? Nope! Opara is too injury prone and Ola is too valuable, plays his heart out so he's a locker room guy, and he's a good guy to have for when Zlatan leaves.
It doesn't make sense to me. Zlatan is 37 going on 38. The new playoff schedule (which I think is stupid) means we will have a condensed season with a lot of mid week games. After Ola, whats our striker depth? If we play a 1 striker system, Ola is going to get a good amount of minutes from resting Zlatan for those games and any game on turf. There's also this thing called you can play 2 strikers at the same time.
OUT OF CONTRACT PLAYERS: With both Romney and Pontius signing contracts with the Galaxy, only Ema Boateng remains. Hearing there could be some uncertainty about Ema’s return. #LAGalaxy #MLS— Corner Of The Galaxy (@GalaxyPodcast) December 19, 2018 Sometimes I wonder if Ema sees himself better than he actually is. He should not be a starter in a competitive MLS team, but he's a very good player to have on the bench.
He seems like an obvious player to be a killer sub in the last 20 minutes of a game but I can't recall him ever really excelling in that scenario in recent years.
I don't know if he currently overvalues himself but last season he was only paid 130k. That was the lowest salary of any player who played regularly not named Romney.
I wouldn't be so quick to write that off. I still feel we're an unbalanced team and hamstrung to playing 2 forwards. If we flipped Ola for a good attacking mid or winger that can play under Zlatan and give him service, that's not a bad move. It leaves us looking for a forward again in 2019, of course.
Boateng was very good starting in that last stretch of games. He stretches the play and creates space for others, even if his finishing isn't very good.
Our expectations must be really low. Are we really content to just bring in players who either are past their prime (Juninho, Franklin) or were just ok when they were here (Rowe)? What happened to the Galaxy that expects to be elite, the team that regularly brings in players who are expected to be among the best in the league? I haven't heard one rumor yet about any such signing for 2019.
That’s Kelyn Rowe, not Brian Rowe. Juninho and Franklin were both starters for the Galaxy in the past. I haven’t seen really any post that think that either of them should start. Just brought back in to fill out the bench. The core from last year is essentially the same. Moreover, what’s also the same (every year) is needing domestic talent for depth that fits under your cap. So far we have two international spots open (Cole & Ciani) and probably three open starting spots (RW, CB, & LB).