On Sunday, Steven Beitashour became the latest player to join in what might be fledgling MLS club LAFC's first-ever tradition, revealing his impending signing with the club via a social-media video revealing him in the now-infamous black logo cap:
On Wednesday, the club made it official, announcing that they've signed Beitashour to a free agent deal. With the native Californian and former Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps and San Jose Earthquakes fullback secured, and the Black-and-Gold opening preseason with their first-ever training session on Monday, what’s the status of coach Bob Bradley’s roster-building process?
In terms of players technically available to them, the expansion side now has nearly enough bodies to field an 18-man gameday squad. But there’s plenty of work still to be done towards filling out a full roster – and it’s far from certain that everyone on their list today will still be in the fold come opening day.
Top SuperDraft pick Joao Moutinho is already under contract, for example. But his fellow draft picks Tristan Blackmon, Pol Calvert Planellas and Jordan Jones are not yet signed to 2018 deals and will have to earn that opportunity in preseason, starting today. Questions also circle around the fate of Monday Bassey Etim, the 19-year-old Nigerian midfielder signed as the club’s second-ever player last spring and loaned out to LAFC’s USL affiliate Orange Country SC for 2017.
Positionally speaking, the SoCal side is currently short on central midfielders, probably needs further depth in central defense and only has one goalkeeper under contract at present. Bradley acknowledged this on draft day in Philadelphia, but also pointed out that plenty more transactions could unfold over the coming weeks – including a move to sign a third Designated Player alongside Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi – especially given that more than a week remains in the international transfer window.
“We still need to add a few more players,” Bradley said at the draft. “We’re in different kinds of discussions, so the picture of what your team is going to look like constantly changes, and you’re always adjusting a little bit based upon what a player brings. We’re still in some good discussions about midfielders. The midfield is, if you want to be a team that controls games, you’re got to have midfielder that can do these kind of things. So in those ways I think we have some starting points when you look at some of the guys up front, some of the guys in the back. Obviously a guy like Benny Feilhaber gives an indication to all of you of the kind of football that we want to have in the middle of the field. I had a really good discussion with Callum Mallace yesterday.
“But there’s some bigger discussions going on, as you know. You see speculation. So you have to see how some of those play out and that will give us a little bit better idea of what we will eventually look like as a team.”
LAFC's roster (as of Jan. 24)
- M - Monday Bassey Etim (5/5/17 - free)
- F - Carlos Vela (8/9/17 - transfer from Real Sociedad)
- F - Rodrigo Pacheco (9/6/17 - loan from Lanus)
- D/M - Omar Gaber (11/21/17 - loan from FC Basel)
- D - Walker Zimmerman (12/10/17 - trade from FC Dallas)
- GK - Tyler Miller (12/12/17 - Expansion Draft)
- F - Latif Blessing (12/12/17 - Expansion Draft)
- F - Marco Ureña (12/12/17 - Expansion Draft)
- D - Laurent Ciman (12/12/17 - trade from Montreal)
- F - Diego Rossi (12/14/17 - transfer from Peñarol)
- D - Jordan Harvey (1/2/18 - free agent)
- M - Benny Feilhaber (1/3/18 - trade from Sporting KC)
- M - Calum Mallace (1/17/18 - Re-Entry Draft)
- D - Joao Moutinho (1/19/18 - SuperDraft)
- M - Pol Calvet Planellas (1/19/18 - SuperDraft)
- F - Jordan Jones (1/21/2018 - SuperDraft)
- M - Aaron Kovar (1/23/18 - intra-league loan from Seattle)
- D - Steven Beitashour (1/24/18 - free agent)
