Maya Yoshida on how many seasons he intends on playing after this MLS Cup win:“1 by 1, 1 by 1, 1 by 1. They decide. It's the boys on the other side. I'll wait for the new contract. That's it.“#MLS #MLSCup #LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/4NeEKlOp1y— Favian Renkel (@FavianRenkel) December 8, 2024 captain would like to keep playing. Out of contract I think.
Martin Caceras tells me he intends to play next year and isn’t leaving the U.S. so he can still recover from his injury. #MLS #LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/YiKR2zHTTt— Favian Renkel (@FavianRenkel) December 8, 2024 Caceras would like to stay on. He may have another year on his deal?
Riqui Puig: “I’m going to stay here for [all] my life.”#MLS #LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/VyB75F7vqB— Favian Renkel (@FavianRenkel) December 9, 2024 might still be drunk but even so…I’ll take it I wonder if he’s wearing a Landon uniform to return the favor from yesterday. .
Oh he was definitely intoxicated LOL He did ask for the group to stay together and come back next season to defend the title. Hope they listen to him!
We are in the middle of the half day trade window (6 am - 10 am PT) https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/san-diego-fc-headline-2024-2025-mls-offseason-roster-building-events Galaxy have been active in this window in the recent past: December 2023 Traded Raheem Edwards to Toronto for 400K in GAM December 2022 Traded Kevin Cabral to Colorado for $1m in GAM December 2021 Traded Lletget to New England for up to $1.3m in GAM Traded Ethan Zubak to Nashville for a 1st round pick in the 2022 draft
FYI: The LA Galaxy will have to rapidly get their roster moves ready and announced. They've likely already made those decisions, and are probably notifying players today or yesterday of those decisions. #LAGalaxy #MLS— Corner Of The Galaxy (@GalaxyPodcast) December 9, 2024
Not a medical opinion, obviously, but Mike Gray's observation about Riqui's knee and Doyle's view that he might be back by August would certainly be nice if true Riqui returning in August is a good shout, watching him running around the stage yesterday it’s clear it wasn’t a full ACL tear.— Mike Gray (@MikeGrayAFC) December 9, 2024
You guys are too hard on Reus. And I say that as someone who hates him for playing on "Borussia" teams his entire career. I understand the European fan-hesitation about the move to SoCal. But we'd have a team full of Matt Taylors and Memo Gonzalezes otherwise. At least Andi Herzog scored a few goals and came back to an alumni day. Point being: if Reus says he has something left, or Yoshida for that reason, believe it. They can do it.
A lot of international players take time to adapt to MLS, especially when they come in mid-season (or in Reus' case with 8 games remaining). And Reus wasn't healthy the last 2 months either. I suspect that he will be a big part of the Galaxy's success next year (especially while Riqui's out), after he's had time to heal up AND a full pre-season with the team.
LA Galaxy: What we learned in 2024 & what comes next | MLSSoccer.com Doyle's article is worth a read. seems close to group consensus here. So he's welcome if he's been reading through our posts But some contract info in there: Mark Delgado has a contract option; it is an easy call to pick that up. Martín Cáceres has a contract option; it is an easy call to decline that. Yoshida is out of contract. He turns 37 next summer, but I assume they’ll work to bring him back. That’s really it for big decisions unless someone comes in with big money for Pec or Joveljić, which shouldn’t be ruled out. That’s the business. The other thing… I’d assumed for a while they’d work on a buyout of Brugman’s remaining guaranteed year (listed at $1.4 million as per the MLSPA) this winter. But given his performance in MLS Cup and Riqui’s injury, I think it’s extremely likely they’ll hold onto him, as they should. They’ve also got one open U22 Initiative slot, and can very easily open an international roster slot (Caceres departing would do it). My guess is they’ll use that to try and find the next Joveljić. My point is the hard yards have already been run. This team is deep, talented and will be one of the favorites to do it again next year.
I expect this to get a thousand bigsoccer likes, but doyle, and I won't capitalize his name, is a stinky butt.
I would think that the decision on Caceres is dependent upon Yoshida's decision. If Maya decides to retire or go elsewhere (unlikely from my outside observer POV), then I think keeping Caceres as the veteran presence (even if he isn't an every game starter) is a no brainer. If Yoshida decides to return, then I think they look for another young defender to compete against Neal. Perhaps one with more aerial ability.
The one wildcard on Caceres is that Garces gave him a ton of credit for helping him develop. Hard to have two senior center backs (plus Zavaleta), but for the right price it might still make sense.
Zardes was bought out by Austin FC. In the old regime, I would expect us to bring him back as a Galaxy vet, but now he think he's more likely to go to San Jose since Arena is putting the band back together again Sources: Austin FC exercise contract buyout on forward Gyasi Zardes.The move removes Zardes from the club's roster and salary cap, freeing up flexibility.Zardes, 33, is the 10th all-time leading scorer in MLS history with 106 regular season goals. https://t.co/brladp6aU2— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) December 9, 2024
Whitecaps FC in Pot 1 for Tuesday's 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup draw | Vancouver Whitecaps FC This is from the Whitecaps website but the nice thing to see (which was news to me) is that we have a bye to the round of 16 of the Concacaf champions league.
It's a big deal in terms of not having to start the season (and thus ramping up pre-season) significantly earlier than other teams. That's one of the things that hurts MLS teams during the regular season who play in this tournament.
Zardes is going the Kei Kamara route, he’s gonna play for half the teams in the league by the time he retires. Won’t like seeing him in Smurf blue though.
Some national folks feel like Kuntz' quote suggests the Galaxy will rely more on developing the Academy pipeline to fill holes in the lineup. Maybe, but if he will, it's a long-term project. I think Cuevas will get more time next year simply because of the fixture congestion, especially early in the season, and maybe Ruben Ramos, Jr. too, but I don't think we have a lot of kids who are MLS ready that were being held back. Magana, Gabriel Arnold, and Schelotto probably need a full year at VCFC before they could be considered ready. Dalgado at LB might be a little closer given his age and how much time he played with VFC this year, but we are pretty stacked with young players at LB right now. https://bsky.app/profile/mattdoyle.bsky.social/post/3lcv5dgpei22c
While I loved Gyasi when he was with the Galaxy, he has been gone for more time then when he was with the club. Assuming that he was available, I think in a straight comparison, I would stay with Miguel Berry over Gyasi. Berry is 6 years younger than Zardes (27 vs 33). His stats (2g, 3a) in 2024 while similar to Gyasi's (3g 2a) were accomplished them in about 2/3 of the minutes. Berry also has dual citizenship and per the MLS website he "is fluent in English, Spanish and German, and speaks some Catalan". That certainly can help in the Galaxy locker room. I noticed that he was Riqui's designated translator yesterday.
What I expect and I would do for this winter : - I'm expecting Dejan to leave after his great season. He's in the final year of his U22 contract and if my understanding is good, transferring him outside of MLS will give us a big amount of allocation money. If Dejan wants to stay as a TAM player I'm up for it but he has the right to take his chance in Europe again and it makes too much sense to sell him now. - try to hang on to Gabriel Pec as long as possible. - as for contract ends, give a new deal to Delgado. I wouldn't keep Caceres, who's becoming old and too injury prone, and I would like to keep Yoshida as a veteran presence. - Brugman probably saved his ass from a buyout after his MLS Cup performance and I like his versatility, but I'll be OK to see him leave (Expansion Draft pick ?). - as for new signings, where can we improve this great team ? Obvious answers to me : CB and GK. I would like an addition at CB next to Garcés to push Neal a little bit. Yoshida as the experienced guy is a good option but as a starter, I think we can improve here. I would like to see Micovic compete with McCarthy during the offseason. Find a high TAM player to replace Dejan and sign better depth than Berry for the striker position. - finally, sort out the question of a short-term signing until Riqui Puig returns.
I think Brugman has a very clear role with this squad in Riqui's absence. We signed him with the idea he was a defensive midfielder but he's much more useful to us pushing the ball forward and getting forward a bit himself. Cerillo's emergence offers that possibility.
Not sure I see Brugman as Riqui's replacement (Delgado played his spot on the field during MLS Cup), but maybe as a guy who's more suited to be Mark backup, but who also could play everywhere in the midfield. Brugman is valuable to the team, the problem is his very big salary.
I don't know, it sure looked to me like for large parts of the game Brugman was playing in Riqui's spot, to the left of center, with Delgado in his normal spot to the right. That said, neither player roamed around like Riqui does.
We have an open U22 spot. I expect that we will sign the next Jovelic with that spot, whether to replace him - now or in the summer - or to back him up for next season. Berry might stay, but it would be as a third striker who offered a different look.