The Galaxy are closing in on a return to MLS play and an important transfer window.
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The Galaxy face Club America Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in a final tune-up for their July 17 El Trafico clash against Los Angeles Football Club.
Another date that’s circled is Monday, July 13.
That’s the opening of the MLS transfer window, where clubs can sign and bring in players. The Galaxy expect to be busy with Mauricio Cuevas (Santos Laguna), Gabriel Pec (Cruzeiro) and Matheus Nascimento (loan expired) having departed recently.
“I hate when guys go out because it’s guys who have learned sort of what we want to do,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said, “guys who are invested in the group. … We didn’t have a ton of money to impact the broader team and the guys upstairs have to figure out who we have options for and what’s the best scenario.
“Sometimes in our league, because of the salary cap and different things, you have to make moves you don’t always love, so for me it’s disappointing, but it’s the game and so the next step, because the season starts real fast, is who’s coming in and getting them integrated into our group as quickly as possible.”
The Galaxy received close to $2 million for the Cuevas sale to Santos Laguna and $12 million for Pec’s departure to Cruzeiro. The Galaxy have to fill Pec’s Designated Player spot and Nascimento’s U-22 roster slot, with more potential additions on Vanney’s wishlist.
“We need to get something else to support João (Klauss), who is injured at the moment in the nine (forward) position,” Vanney said. “We’ve obviously been doing a little bit of nine (forward) by committee with Marco (Reus) and Joe (Joseph Paintsil) and others. I think we need to pick up at least one winger, if not two. We need to also have cover, not just somebody who’s our primary winger, but cover in that position. So that’s why I saw we’ve got three to five guys, we’ve got to try to get in because most of them are on the attacking side of things.
“Will they happen? I think a lot of things seem to be in the works and it’s always a matter of just how fast things can close up and get guys here down the stretch. I believe that there are a lot of final conversations going on and sort of, you know, what direction … whichever domino drops, sort of leads everything into a certain very specific direction, is what I understand.”
The Galaxy will jump right back into a busy schedule with three games in nine days. Before the World Cup break, the Galaxy had a 5-5-5 record and held the ninth and final playoff spot (20 points) in the Western Conference.
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CLUB AMERICA vs. GALAXY
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Dignity Health Sports Park