MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – The LA Galaxy have made, and are continuing to make, some big changes heading into the new season, and their biggest names believe it could spark the club to another championship.
LA already have brought in a half-dozen players, including MLS veterans Dan Kennedy, Mike Magee and Jeff Larentowicz, and have been linked to four European stars, with several outlets reporting that a deal with former English national-teamer Ashley Cole, an outside back whose AS Roma contract was terminated this week, has been completed.
The Galaxy, whose Knockout Round loss to Seattle last October was their earliest playoff exit in club history, also have been linked to Standard Liege defender Jelle Van Damme, Aston Villa defender Joleon Lescott and AC Milan midfielder Nigel de Jong, all with international experience.
“If we get the names we've been linked with, we'll be an awful lot stronger from goalkeeper to center forwards, which makes the squad become stronger,” Steven Gerrard said Tuesday during an MLS media roundtable in Southern California. “Because players move out of the [starting] XI for the new signings, and then the squad on the bench becomes stronger, which means you've got a better chance to succeed.”
The Galaxy won three of the previous four MLS Cup titles before last year's disappointing finish, which came on the heels of an impressive summer run that pegged them as favorites to capture another championship. Poor defensive play down the stretch doomed that bid.
“I think we needed a shakeup,” captain Robbie Keane said at the roundtable. “Regardless of how good you are, every team always gets new faces in to freshen things up, to have a different approach, maybe, in certain games, and if we get the players in we're talking about and add a couple more, I think we'll be fine. I think we'll make a really, really solid group.”
Gone are veteran center back Omar Gonzalez and central midfielder Juninho, who have moved to Mexican clubs, and the new signings would fill the holes they've left behind while strengthening depth around the field.
“We'll be a an awful lot stronger if we get the names in that we're linked with,” Gerrard said, “because they're very good footballers, and they'll improve us defensively, and that's where we went wrong last year.”
The Galaxy also are counting on better showings from Gerrard and forward Giovani Dos Santos, who arrived during summer and showed impressive flashes while trying to acclimate to a new club and a league that presented challenges different from what they'd faced during their European careers.
The newcomers from Europe, should they sign, would face similar challenges.
“I think the good thing is we've got a preseason to work stuff out, we've got a preseason to get used to each other,” Gerrard said. “I come halfway through a season, no one in the dressing room knew me, my character, the way I play, my movements, and I didn't know nothing about them. I only knew Robbie from a short spell at Liverpool.
“In England, what I'm used to, what players come in in January, it takes a settling-in period, not just for those players, but also for the players that are already there to get used to the new signings. I think that was certainly the case for the Galaxy halfway through last year, but this year we've got four, five, maybe six weeks to get used to each other. There's a lot of names on the horizon. I hope, I've got my fingers crossed, that we get them in sooner rather than later, because we want to use these [preseason] friendly games and these four, five weeks to gel, get the team spirit ready and, hopefully, get used to each other as players.”
The Galaxy open camp Friday. Their first competitive match is a CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Santos Laguna on Feb. 24 at StubHub Center.
Fitting the new players into the locker room won't be a problem, Keane promised.
“I'll make sure they will [mesh],” he said. “It's very simple. The dressing room, we've got experienced players there – myself, Stevie, both of us have been captains over the years. And if me and Stevie see things we don't like, well, we'll change it, make sure that dressing room is a good environment, a good place for people to come, that they know as soon as they walk in the dressing room, they're there for the team, they're there to work hard and make this team better.”
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Keane said head coach Bruce Arena had done his homework on the potential additions and that he had no doubt they would fit in.
“If you're bringing in the players that are being mentioned, no manager signs a player just because the sake of signing. They sign them, they find out their history,” Keane said. “As manager, you find out what he's like as a person, his personality, what he's like in the dressing room. That's why Bruce has been so successful. He knows all this stuff before we sign all these players.
“I know the players that he's signing. I know from playing against them. I know them from outside of football. I know what kind of characters they have. That certainly won't be a problem with the players we're going to get.”
