Billy Sharp Position: Forward Height: 5-9 Weight: 155 Date Of Birth: Feb. 5, 1986 Age: 37 Birthplace: Sheffield, England Last Club: Sheffield United FC (England) Citizenship: England 5-9 huh. I was hoping he’d be a big forceful power central forward type to win headers and hold up the ball. I’m guessing that’s not his game.
This is such a dumb signing. Two goals last season for the team that got promoted to the premier league, so clearly the team wasn't the issue. He is 37 which is also older than Ibra was when we deemed him too old for us. This signing is just because Vanney doesn't want to play Dejan or Judd now or ever, but still it makes no sense. We can't even rely on Sharp long term.
Just another forward option for 12 ish games. I think it’s fine. Judd and Dejan haven’t earned shit this season.
A dumb signing would have been a striker on a longer-term deal that handcuffs us for next season and beyond. Signing Sharp probably keeps Barrios on the wing most likely and gives us some depth instead of bringing up the G2s Bibout, who has some talent, but isn't MLS ready at this point. Totally agree that it looks like Sharp has fallen off a cliff and it would be silly to presume he is going to save the Galaxy in front of the net. For short bursts, though, over a few months, he might score a few goals. It's unlikely there were a lot of players who were (1) free agents as of the close of the MLS window Aug 2, (2) who were willing to forgo opportunities the remainder of the European window to sign with the Galaxy now, and (3) were willing to sign for only a few months. If they were really good, they would have better options in Europe (and Sharp reportedly had offers from other clubs in the Championship) or want a long-term deal or at least one where year two didn't come with a club option. We basically picked up a locker room presence who has experience scoring goals and probably didn't cost us much to do so on a pro-rated basis.
After reading the posts on Facebook from all of the fans from Sheffield, I must admit that I am excited to see if he really will come over here and pull an "Zlatan Old Man Awesome" impression. They are absolutely gutted he left when he could have remained in England if he wanted despite his record for last season. All of them claim it was lack of service that caused his current stat record and this should absolutely change as LA makes service but lacks finishers. Truly this is making me more excited based purely on the faith of the Sheffield fans repeatedly saying wait and see how he surprises everyone in LA with doubts.
As I recall this was not the simple process that you outlined with the implication that the Galaxy got it right from the beginning. There was Bruce's original signing of Juan Pablo Angel to a 2 year DP contract in 2011. JPA scored 3 goals in 22 games for the Galaxy and was regarded as their worst DP signing until they signed Costa. Had the goats not agreed to take on JPA's contract, Keene would have never been signed.
Fingers crossed that he can help. I don't know how it'll turn out but you are absolutely right that he is held in the highest regard by the Sheffield fans and hopefully that speaks as well to his character and how he will help in the locker room. I think losing Vasquez and especially Klejstan hurt us a lot more than we realized, as far as leadership goes.
The #1 reason we had signings like Keane and Beckham back then but not since (with the short-term exception of Zlatan) is Tim Leiweke. He had vision and big ambitions for the LA Galaxy. Dan Beckerman? Not so much.
So - we didn't land an A+ forward in this off-season, but got players at every position of need and didn't commit to anything that will prevent us from making big moves this off-season with 2 DP spots and significant TAM money available, plus whatever roster expansion the league approves (many rumors of a 4th DP or something in that vein).
🚨TRANSFER RUMOR🚨On various occasions Antoine Griezmann has stated his desire to play in the MLSThere’s been contacts from couple teams to acquire his services for next season, one of them from the west coast 👀😎#TransferNews #Atleti #MLS #LAFC #LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/SMn8SfEIPN— Nico Bravo (@NicoBravo_14) August 16, 2023
Yep. This transfer was excellently done as far as I am concerned. Even if it turns out that everyone we gained plays like utter flaming garbage on the pitch, you can't beat the fact that we have the freedom to cut them all at the end of the season. Well done team. Well done.
That last sentence sort of proves the point though. LA could throw its weight around and discard difficult to discard players with relative ease. My recollection was Robbie’s signing was a few days between rumor and official and for a day or two LA had 4 DPs because they had officially signed Keane and hadn’t yet offloaded JPA. And while JPA was a dud for LA he was coming off four seasons with Red Bull where he a scored 19, 14, 12 and 13 league goals. He went to Chivas and scored 7 in the 9 remaining games of the season which ironically was 5 more than Keane scored in his first few games with LA (5 fewer games than JPA to be fair). Angel was a good pick up who didn’t gel with the team for whatever reason.
Swapping Costa for Griezmann would be a good bit of business, as they say. (Now watch it's LAFC who is talking with him) Eh, a couple more....
I really wish we could have signed Klejstan in his prime. Such a smart, creative player. He would have been lethal with Beckham out wide, and LD and Keano in front of him.
Long-haired Sacha would have been great. Always liked his game. Too bad he ended up with the goats and Arena couldn't get him from the Redbulls. Would have fit perfectly with tiki taco.
This could be an attempt to drive up the price, but it's as strong a statement as you are going to get (without Riqui and his agent saying it) that Riqui is likely to stay. LA Galaxy head coach & sporting director Greg Vanney to The Athletic on the future of Riqui Puig:“Riqui is here for the long-haul. He doesn’t want to be anywhere else other than here. He’s our guy that we continue to build around and build with. That’s the future for Riqui.” pic.twitter.com/16f92L5hrO— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) August 17, 2023
Honestly, it would be a ********in coup if the Galaxy can buy Riqui outright from Barca and he stays here beyond 2025. He's the type of player that the Galaxy needs and what MLS needs to really grow the league.
We did sign Zlatan on TAM while having 3 other DPs. I mean, it does underscore how the league has changed in the intervening time. The last time LA won a championship, there was no such thing as TAM. Except for 2017, when we promoted GII players, we've spent a lot. Mostly just poorly.