Yeah, this guy is gone from Tigres. Ferreti mentioned him in a PC and said practically he is dead to him if Jurgen is not commited to the team. Damm said almost dismissively he is done at Tigres and wants to move on. Dynamic, quick and very driven player. I would certainly love to have him wear the galactic kit. Would there be an uproar in the league and screams of stacking a team or buying championships? Of course.
I've been hearing he's a lot like Antuna: quick, pretty skillful but limited end-product. On Antuna, does anybody know why my twitter TL is filled with comments about him and the hashtag #MenDon'tCheat?
Why in the world would the Galaxy want another wing? They already have a plethora of players who can play either of those positions. No they aren't stars, but this is MLS and there's still a salary cap. Despite what the foreign press likes to post, the Galaxy can't sign every disaffected player. I think that the priority should be a starting left CB and a secondary attacker.
For what it's worth the mlssoccer staff put out it's list of top 50 MLS players. Here are the teams with 3 or more such players: LAFC (6) Atuesta, Vela, Rossi, Rodriguez, Kaye, Segura. SEA (6) Lodeiro, Ruidiaz, Morris, Roldan, Joao Paulo, Frei NYCFC (6) Maxi Moralez, Heber, Moralez, Ring, Mitrita, Tinnerholm. ATL (4) Josef Martinez, Robinson, Pity Martinez, Barco LAG (3) JDS, Chicharito, Pavon. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/25/top-50-mls-players-2020-season
Speaking of poor Antuna. Things are not working out for him at Chivas. From low performance to missing game winning sitters for a struggling Chivas have pundits asking "is this all the kid has for the money?" or "what did we get this guy for?" They are being harsh with him. I think by now he wishes he would have stayed with us.
Antuna really had no choice in the matter. Man City wanted to sell him, and he would have been a DP here due to MLS' dumbass rules. Midlevel players like Antuna are great for clubs in the MLS but man MLS really does not make it easy to get them if they do no play in the league already. As for Antuna's poor form, we could all see he was pretty inconsistent for us. I think he could have used another year or two in the MLS to really hone his abilities and figure his game out.
I guess scoring 5 goals in his first few games for Mexico (in the Gold Cup I think it was) set the expectations pretty high, if they didn't pay close attention to his club career. As far as his happiness of leaving the Galaxy, I suspect it depends largely on how big his contract is. Not sure, but I suspect he got a decent raise.
Too answer my own question, other than the intense media scrutiny because of his poor performances, paparazzi caught him trying to flirt with another woman. I think he has a pregnant wife at home..
This was a big part. The book Soccernomics did some research and found that clubs who sign players who shine in high profile, high visibility games (usually tournament finals/semi-finals) tend to under-perform the next season, relative to their club payroll. Or more simply, they blow too much of their payroll on players who happen to get lucky when millions were watching. I think that was part of the story with Gio - many fans and scouts got their panties wet (is that over the line?) watching blips of brilliance like this incredible serpentine goal in the 2011 GC finals:
You just described the entire process behind Man United signing Karel Poborsky and Jordi Cruyff post-Euro 96. Also Arsenal and John Jensen post-Euro 92. Though that also involved a bung. And United got Peter Schmeichel on that occasion, so sometimes it pans out.
I honestly think Lletget should have been on that list. They had Nagbe at like 15 or something. Nagbe is a more athletic, less productive version of Lletget. I mean go through the list and tell me he’s not better than at least 15 of those guys.
I've not seen much evidence in the last couple years that he's better. And JDS is overrated. I'd say the #13 rating for CMs that came around a few weeks ago is more accurate. No way he's the 5th best player in MLS.
Their pundits are still sleeping on Insua, Lettget and Katai. I can’t think of a better LB in MLS than Insua (since they’re including players that haven’t play in MLS yet). Perhaps Milton Vasquez, but he’s coming off a devastating injury. However Insua’s pedigree alone should land him somewhere in the list. Just based off of Lletget’s passing completion and national team callups, it’s clear that Lletget is an important and quality player in this league. Katai is a top five player in his position. Everyone said we had a steal of a signing, and that Katai has DP production potential. This team is finally, once again, becoming more than just our DP signings.
On paper we have our best squad since 2015. A few talking heads are predicted us wining MLS Cup this year, however that’s requisite on us landing a quality CB this year.
Only if you just look at the starting 11. We have no depth. Even our starting 11 has real questions in central defense, rb and central midfield. we are 3-4 good signings away from being formidable.
I don't know if Chicharito is good enough to take us there. It looks like it's all Pavon, he is going to need help.
Edson Alvarez wanted to leave Ajax in January.LA Galaxy and Tottenham Hotspur were both interested in loan deals but Ajax said no. (De Telegraaf)— Dutch Football 🇳🇱 (@FootballOranje_) March 2, 2020 Edson Alvarez, 22 years old, was possibly one of our targets for the CB position.
We certainly seem to be shaking the trees for the right kind of center back. Need to close one of these deals though. Question for the fan base, do you want the club to keep aiming high at center back even if it's longer (if ever) to sign someone or do we settle and get someone who is good and proven (but maybe not quite as high a quality) just to get another body in?