I am sad to see Gyasi Zardes go because I wanted to see him turn it around on this team. However if he had to go anywhere else in this league, I am glad Sigi had the foresight to send him not only to his old team but to a team that just happens to also be run by a real Old "G" in Beerholder. Godspeed Gyasi.
#LAGalaxy sign free agent midfielder Chris Pontius. He will be in camp today. Here's the rest of the training camp outlook https://t.co/qObjx558hI— Kevin Baxter 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@kbaxter11) January 22, 2018
Rumors of another striker potentially coming to LAG -- Ross Mcormack on loan from Aston Villa. http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2018/01/2...-of-three-clubs-to-express-interest-in-signi/ We would need yet another int'l slot to bring him on though.
Would be nice to have more depth up top. International spots are an issue obviously. I suppose we can acquire one and drop Ciani and we'd be ok. Or perhaps we'll drop one of our current international players. I'd imagine that would HAVE to be Jao Pedro looking at the list below. Who are our internationals now? Not going anywhere (6) -GDS -going nowhere -JDS -going nowhere -Kamara -going nowhere RA -going nowhere Nowegian new signing -going nowhere Venezuelian new signing -going nowhere Might move? (2) JaoPedro -perhaps we might move him to free up spot/resources. I'd sort of like to see him get another shot this season when not asked to be the DM. However, I'd probably agree to move him if it meant getting another good striker. ACole -can't see us changing our mind on the contract extension Must be gone right? (1) Cianni -I think we may know for sure today if he's not at training camp.
I don't think it will be hard to trade for an international spot. Probably a 4th round draft pick or a bag of soccer balls.
If we use that once-a-year thing to release Ciani, we'd still end up paying him, right? So, wouldn't some team take a flyer on him in a trade for an int'l spot if we pick up his whole check? Then we'd have two open int'l spots. Or would that not work?
I don't know if there's any team dumb enough to do that. First they'd have to give up 2 international spots. Second, they'd end up with Ciani. My guess is we haven't cut him because we're hoping we can get a small transfer to send him back to Europe. My guess is before the seasons if he hasn't been picked up we'll release him.
As a Villa fan, Ross is a good player and would do very well in this league. The championship is similar in playing style to MLS, so I don't doubt McCormack would be able to score. He is on loan currently in Australia and scoring nearly a goal a game there. BUT, McCormack is on big wages even for Aston villa's standard. If he came here, he'd need to be a DP, and he would be an international. If we didn't have Gio, I'd say sign McCormack in a heartbeat, but since we do, this makes no sense. Especially since we just signed Kamara.
Too bad - it would be nice to have more depth at forward. I'm sure BJIV and Lassiter will continue to improve over this season but imo they are still mop-up minutes players at this point - neither is consistent enough in all around play to be regular starter material yet.
🐶@Ari_Lassiter15 keeping fit with @ldacr in the offseason: https://t.co/08Mk2kPx5n pic.twitter.com/leLmKR0XY1— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) December 19, 2017 Looks like he has been training with them in the offseason to get fit
Doyle picks us 7th. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/01/21/armchair-analyst-2018-mls-preseason-begins-heres-my-top-10 I'd like to wait until the summer window for anymore changes. Let's see what we have before looking to add anything. Anyway, my roster spreadsheet is starting to overheat from all the changes.
NEWS: #LAGalaxy sign Chris Pontius (@ChrisPontius13). https://t.co/1gi9X3vx2h pic.twitter.com/TtUrah1Bfz— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) January 22, 2018 Official for Pontius. I like the signing : talented and elegant player, can play on a wing or up top, international experience, knows the league well and is still relatively young (30). I've always been a fan of him TBH.
Sigi on international spots: "Did the government open up today? If it did then that improves our chances of getting green cards for a couple of guys. We have to be roster compliant by March and we hope things work out by then." He says Ola is close.— Adam Serrano (@AdamSerrano) January 23, 2018
Couple of things to note from the photos of the first day of training camp: https://www.lagalaxy.com/post/2018/01/22/photo-gallery-la-galaxy-open-training-camp - Ciani is definitely there and he is front and center - There are plenty of unknown players there, most likely Academy/G2 types, but we'll see. They are wearing numbers we didn't see last year. - Bingham looks like a little kid next to Sylvestre. He is a very large man. - Lassiter is there, if you needed further confirmation that his time in Costa Rica was merely training. Nice if he made a jump this year. - Lletget seems to be playing without restriction - It seems like virtually everyone of note is present at the start of training camp. That is pretty important given the number of new faces. In the past, we've always had guys who come late or have visa issues etc.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeRRSQWB4674ZvNHCoFu8pOCBbeKoS8uC8BLJ40/ 5 academy kids training with the first team
I think Feltscher is missing. Nor did I see the other two draft picks (Skundrich or Shultz, though likely they're unlikely to make the first team) but otherwise seems pretty complete. Under Contract 1 - Bingham 3 - Cole 4 - Romney 5 - Steres 6 - Baggio 7 - Alessandrini 8 - Jona 10 - Gio 11 - Kamara 12 - Slyvestre 14 - Carrasco 15 - Lassiter 16 - Skjelvik? 17 - Lletget 19 - Pontius 20 - Hilliard-Arce? 21 - Arrellano 22 - Klimenta? 24 - Boateng 28 - Ciani 38 - BJIV 41 - Vom Steeg (G2) 51 - Zubak (G2) 57 - Dhillon (G2) 88 - Pedro ?? - Kitchen Others 26 - Academy Player 31 - ? 47 - Academy Player 55 - Academy Player 62 - Academy Player 63 - Academy Player 69 - Jeffrey Payeras' number but not sure it's actually him in the picture. Beard and longer hair makes it tough to tell. There are one or two more faces I didn't recognize but couldn't put a name or number to the face.
26 is Efrain Alvarez, who is 15 and may be the top Academy prospect. I wouldn't be surprised if we sign him to a G1 deal this year and then loan him to G2 for the year.