So far this offseason, the LA Galaxy have brought a central midfielder home from Scandinavia, signed two big target forwards, watched head coach Bruce Arena potentially make another characteristically savvy SuperDraft move and added two Homegrown players to their roster.
They're not finished.
That was Arena's message as he departed Philadelphia following Thursday's SuperDraft, in which LA used their only first-day pick to nab University of New Mexico defender Kyle Venter, considered one of the three best center backs available, with the 23rd selection.
Former Chicago Fire midfielder Baggio Husidic, after two years in Sweden, signed with the Galaxy in November. Last week, they brought in 22-year-old Brazilian forward Samuel on loan from Fluminense, and this week signed Canadian veteran Rob Friend, who played in Europe for a decade.
Arena then revealed in Philadelphia that attacking midfielder Raul Mendiola, who trained last season with the first team, and US Under-17 national team pool forward Bradford Jamieson had signed Homegrown deals and that LA were “probably going to sign another one in the near future.”
LA's roster already has 30 players, but there's still work to be done, Arena said. Midfielder Hector Jimenez was dealt this week to Columbus for allocation money and a roster spot they plan to use.
“[The trade] gives us a little bit more flexibility in our roster and our salary cap,” Arena said in a Galaxy Insider interview. “And we're looking to bring in another player, and we had to make a move.”
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No name has emerged on the coming addition, but The Washington Post's Steven Goff reported via Twitter on Thursday that Arena “says Galaxy has signed a foreign wide midfielder.”
Arena told the Galaxy Insider that the player he was pursuing was “a player that will complement our players in midfield, as well as [Robbie] Keane, Samuel and Friend” and that “our service on set pieces needs to be better, and I think we're going to address that as well.”
Samuel's and Friend's arrivals will add size, variety and needed experience to the Galaxy's attack.
“In the past year, we played a lot of young [forwards] perhaps too many minutes,” Arena said. “They weren't ready for it. So now we have some experience on the field, and I think Rob's going to be able to make us a much better team and help complement Robbie Keane – we don't have to depend on Robbie for everything – and that will loosen up position play for Landon Donovan a little bit.
"We can move him around in better positions. Hopefully, the acquisition of both Samuel and Friend complement both Keane and Donovan.”
