I just want to say I agree with all the teams moves so far except for Christian Ramirez. I get why they would keep him in the name of depth but unless whatever he is getting now will not prevent us from signing a new DeJan Joveljić level Striker I would have showed him the door right behind Berry. Also the team better not overpay Diego. It might be worth it to let him go collect a bigger payday elsewhere if push comes to shove.
I agree with most of this except Maya is no longer a starter and we need a quality CB to pair with Garces.
I have only 3 questions at this point,... 1) How much money do we have to work with Budget wise. 2) Who in the MLS (or elsewhere) plays in the Forward position that can average a stat on par with DeJan Joveljic; and is also currently available that we could sign that wouldn't require a DP slot level wage? Wages we get back Forward Wise Miguel Berry's Wages= $225,000 Expires December 2025 Wages we need to renegotiate Forward Wise Nascimento Current Wages= $500,000 Expires December 2025 (He needs to be talked down to Berry's last wage.) Wages we reupped for at least a year Forward Wise C. Ramirez Current Wages= $525,000 Expires December 2025 (I don't know how much the extension is for or for how long; but hopefully it was cut in half.) 3) Who in the MLS (or elsewhere) plays in the Center Back position that can average defensive stats on par with Garces and/or Yoshida, yet has the age/health of Garces; and is currently available that we could sign? For the 2025 season,... Carlos Garces 92.7% Pass Completion Rating He won 40 of his 60 Total Tackles 56 Successful Blocks Wages: $430,000 Annual Expires December 2028 https://fbref.com/en/players/d8eb21b7/Carlos-Garces Maya Yoshida (Spent a chunk of the season hurt) 92.7% Pass Completion Rating He won 14 of his 23 Total Tackles 98 Successful Blocks Wages: $455,000 Annual Expires December 2026 https://fbref.com/en/players/caffaf5a/Maya-Yoshida *I realize that I might have technically asked about 6 questions*
I don’t think Nascimento was good, by any stretch. Our personnel swaps at forward, some forced from injury and some coaches decision, made it so we never ever really got “hot”—I really mean where our production was seemingly greater than the sum of the pieces. But but those stats don’t quite tell why Nascimento was more effective. The wins stat (BTW) does backup that, but I’m not going to argue cause vs correlation with a productive Paintsill sharing the field. But what the stats don’t address is why Nascimento is a better fit than Ramirez. In simplest term Nascimento replaces more of what we lost from Dejan than Ramirez does. Ramirez could be quite effective if we changed our style of play to suit him. Take it to the wings and cross it in, and more early crosses to forward runs in the box. But Pec and Paintsill played inverted are ineffective crossers of the ball who slow play up. And for Ramirez the counterattack is beyond his foot speed. And lastly the ability to create chances with movement and one touch passing in the box for others, Ramirez demonstrated none of that. Nascimento was only slightly better (but better). Nascimento does offer reasonable speed (enough to be a threat vs Ramirez zero threat) on the counter or stretching the field with his movement. Both able to poach. Nascimento certainly has more upside given his age. Anyway we do need better forward production. If I could as GM, my move would be keep Nascimento as the best of the lot, and then once I was able to secure someone better move him on. Given financial realities (and back room promises) perhaps doing what’s smart for the team isn’t possible, but that makes more sense than more Ramirez and Berry, who this year would have been better giving their minutes to some G2 prospect.
Serious question, not just being argumentative: If, as you say, the playing style fits Nasci and only he got to play with Paintsil but is still less productive than the “mediocre” Ramirez on a per 90 basis, what does that say about Nasci’s skill level?
If you ask me Christian Ramirez was like the second coming of Kevin Cabral. He gets into all the right spots, but repeatedly missed wide open sitters to the point of annoyance. The reason he looked better on the pitch than Nascimento despite having less minutes and slightly weaker stats is because he actually got way more touches because he actually bothered to demand the service needed to be effective. Nascimento on the other hand repeatedly was being bypassed on service game in and game out. He almost never actually did things like wave his hands at guys like Pec and Paintsil whenever he was open. Or yelled out something like, "HEY I'M OPEN PASS THE DANG BALL!" Every single time that he started and got subbed off with Ramirez, the service to the forward spot always immediately increased. Service that would have gave the kid way better stats than just the 4 goals and 3 assists. . Our last stud Foward, my boy DeJan,..."sigh I miss him so much", not only did he consistently demand the ball as a forward should be doing when they are actually open, but DeJan actually had the accuracy to consistently finish those poachable sitters whenever he did get the ball. Plus he made the runs to drag defenders out of position to free up midfielders and wingers when needed; and of course could hit the harder shots as well. I think Nascimento has more upside than Ramirez, but seriously, if we keep him he absolutely must become way more aggressive as a forward.
We aren't winning sh** without a minimum 15 season goal scorer. Neither Nasci or Ramirez is it, we are arguing over table scraps. If we want to win it all, Kuntz needs to sign a proven goal scorer. Have to pray Lewandowski or some other talent is out there. Fact is we never should have let Dejan go, and I don't believe it was necessary. A week before the season Kuntz was saying he was our starter. I would have cut Maya and Fagundez to keep Dejan - goal scorers are the hardest position to come by, almost everyone else is replaceable.
I don't know. I just don't know. I mean could we really have kept him for what he is currently getting in Kansas though as a DP? Unless the rules have changed or I am mistaken I really don't think we could have kept him. He was getting $683,750 here last year and now he gets $3milion a year ($3,306,250 cap hit according to Google.) If we could have afforded to pay him that much money he would have been the 2nd highest paid player on the team. Diego Fagundez currently makes more than Marco Reus and both are TAM guys. Diego currently gets $1,250,000 million. If we could have gotten away with offering DeJan that much to keep him but at the cost of losing Diego in a sell off then I too would have been all for that move. What I think happened is that they offered him something to that effect but then Kansas City called DeJan's agent and told him that they were willing to backup a Dump Truck of Cash just get his autograph on their contract. I can't blame him for taking the money. That being said, I think we can talk Diego down and find a double digit a year striker for about what we are currently paying Diego now. It's going to take some awesome scouting though. Sigh,...Where is David Beckham when you need him to pick up the phone and talk a beast mode level player from another league into taking a pay cut to play for MLS like he used to do all the time before he moved this super power over to Miami lol.
Valid points. I believe Dejan had one more year left on his contract with us. Could we have kept him and made him a DP next year? I guess it depends on which 3 DP's we want. It's also hard for a player when another team offers you a lot more money, difficult to turn down when it is life changing. But man, effective, young forwards are rare.
Don't forget that Dejan aged out of his U22 spot after 2024, so even on that last year of his contract, he was going to cost us nearly $500k more on the cap hit for the final season. And then we would have lost him without getting anything in return as he was out of contract and we still wouldn't have an open DP spot for him.
I still think Kuntz knew that with no Puig and the salary cap problems he was in trouble and so just went young and cheap in 2025 in order to get out of the issues and be set up to make a run in 2026. He just didn't know that Vanney and team would crash and burn so badly in the first half of the season....
I would take it a slightly different direction. I think that Kuntz and the new Mikey Stephens replacement thought that the new blood that they brought in including Sanabria, Nascimento, and .Wynder would be productive in some combination. The reality was that they weren't ready to contribute as starters (which was what the Galaxy needed). Or even as bench depth until late in the season. I am even less impressed by the job they did in bringing in Zanka and Ramirez. It's hard to believe that they couldn't have done a better job evaluating available veteran talent.
If the rumor that Tigres was interested in signing him was true, as Tom Bogart reported, then I could certainly see that changing the plan. Dejan had a market value to the Galaxy of $3 to $4mm. If they forced him to stay, he could have signed a contract with Tigres in July of 2025 and left on a free transfer at the end of the season (like Beckham did with the Galaxy when at Real Madrid). I don't think that was a risk that Kuntz and AEG were willing to accept. This is especially true since the Galaxy couldn't guarantee him a DP slot for 2026.
Ok I just did a quick Google search for every MLS forward that is out of Contract at the end of the season. A couple of these names would surely do the trick. One in particular being Gysai Zardes!!! If he is still available, I wonder if he would be interested in returning the the Galaxy? Diego Rubio Giacomo Vrioni Tom Barlow Christian Benteke Kei Kamara Sergio Santos Teal Bunbury Mikael Uhre Felipe Mora Willy Agada Corey Baird Josef Martinez Danny Musovski Khiry Shelton Mason Toye Chris Donovan Gysai Zardes Kevin Cabral = (Of Course Not Obviously LOL!)
Zardes was bought out of his contract in December 2024 by Austin and, as far as I know, he didn't play anywhere last season. He was still getting paid (the buyout just takes him off Austin's roster budget), so that's probably why he didn't technically retire, but I think he's done.
What? I knew they bought him out, however I had no idea that he was basically sitting unsigned all season. I wonder if he is hurt, retired or just nobody thought to give his agent a call. Josef Martinez is on the list. He could definitely do the job and would be in a perfect spot to shine behind the Killer P's. I guess we would have to see if Bruce Arena wants to resign him or not.
Outside of Martinez (who's old, possible locker room cancer, and is probably going back to Atlanta), all these names are uninspiring as potential Galaxy starting forward. And half are not MLS material (or are not anymore).
A few of the names are interesting but they are just not available and unlikely to be. The most intriguing is Danny Musovski. In 2025 he scored 14 regular season goals with 5 assists for Seattle (17g 5a overall) in 1562 minutes. He ranked 4th in MLS in the g+a-pk stats per 90 that Skydog posted a few days ago. Furthermore, he is not a TAM player and appears to have homegrown status (not sure why or if true) as he is listed on Seattle's supplemental roster. Unfortunately, he is on club option for 2026 and I can't imagine Seattle letting him go as a free agent. Over his career, he has been viewed as a backup, but when given the minutes, he seems to produce at a reasonable level for his salary.
Musovski as a backup is excellent, at some point I hoped the Galaxy would take a look at him. As a starter I'm not sure he's elite enough though, finishing is still inconsistent sometimes. But I agree, I don't see Seattle letting him go as he'll probably get his option picked up. However, Musovski has never been a homegrown over his MLS career and is in Seattle's senior roster (https://mlssoccer.app.box.com/s/c2ok055zmdadejs5zfmhjaj9otkw7wmp). His 2025 salary is $585,303, which is adequate for a backup.
MLS (or the club) seems to speak out of both sides of its/their mouths. Specifically, https://www.mlssoccer.com/players/danny-musovski/ shows him on Seattle's current roster in Supplemental Slots 21-24 I can't see why he would be a supplemental roster player given his career history, salary and age unless he had homegrown or generation adidas status at some point in his career. When I checked I found that both Google and Bing report that he is a homegrown player (see the google link below). I found some mention that he was a homegrown for LAFC (I guess Las Vegas was part of their territory?). Again I qualified this by stating that I didn't know if this was true and if so why it was true. This is what the MLS Roster rules state: Google - https://www.google.com/search?q=is+danny+musovski+a+homegrown+player&sca_esv=4069128c2696b9f5&sxsrf=AE3TifMsa5qGx40dKABJdBUxvTdvbe4ByQ:1762468766873&source=hp&ei=niMNaZa9M7Oqur8Pw7C_8Ak&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaQ0xrlON81M1AN5J3Th3F3OY-dTlHHIT&oq=is+d&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IgRpcyBkKgIIADIEECMYJzILEAAYgAQYkQIYigUyCxAAGIAEGJECGIoFMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMg4QABiABBixAxiDARiKBTIIEAAYgAQYsQMyBRAAGIAEMg4QABiABBixAxiDARiKBTIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAESOIXUABYrAVwAHgAkAEAmAFpoAHaAqoBAzMuMbgBAcgBAPgBAZgCBKAC5gLCAgsQLhiABBiRAhiKBcICCxAAGIAEGLEDGIMBwgILEC4YgAQY0QMYxwHCAg4QLhiABBixAxjRAxjHAcICDhAuGIAEGLEDGIMBGIoFwgIIEC4YgAQYsQOYAwCSBwMzLjGgB-0xsgcDMy4xuAfmAsIHBTAuMy4xyAcI&sclient=gws-wiz Note Some percentage of the time Google AI gives a NO answer to the exact same search.
He was the only name that caught my eye on that list, but makes sense that there is an option year as I don't see Seattle letting him walk.
The problem is MLS website is known for saying BS on rosters, with players not in the good category. If you look at the Galaxy roster (https://www.mlssoccer.com/clubs/la-galaxy/roster/), Riqui Puig is the only DP, Sanabria is not a U22, Zanka is not an international, Miller and Ramos are not listed as homegrown... And the list could go on and on. I don't know why they don't update it correctly, but it has been a problem for years. And I didn't find any article mentioning Musovski is a homegrown player by MLS rules through your Google research. Furthermore, Musovski was drafted by San Jose (but never got senior minutes here) a couple of years before signing with LAFC. Trust me, the reliable source on roster is here, and source is also mlssoccer.com : https://mlssoccer.app.box.com/s/c2ok055zmdadejs5zfmhjaj9otkw7wmp