The LA Galaxy is a glamour franchise that is not only expected to win, but to win with world-renowned players. For the past twenty-five years, the Galaxy has been quite successful living up to these expectations. However, as proven by the last couple of seasons with everyone’s favorite “Ferrari”, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, fulfilling such lofty expectations can prove to be an exercise in futility.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic left LA Galaxy to rejoin Italy’s AC Milan.
The expectation to consistently roll out big names in the world of soccer comes with many inherent risks. Consistently bringing in new stars or franchise players isn’t exactly conducive to team chemistry. Sure Robbie Keane came in and absolutely torched the league and brought his team to the highest level ever seen in MLS, but there’s always a chance of paying millions to a star like Steven Gerrard who struggled mightily just to contribute to LA. If star players, like Gerrard, don’t shine, it can take quite some time to recover. To put it mildly, the Galaxy’s roll of the dice on Gerrard led to a very unGalaxy like down cycle. Perhaps instead of always reaching for the stars, it would be good to reach out to hungry young talent instead?
Steven Gerrard played two seasons for LA Galaxy.
During the Gerrard experiment the Galaxy had to add bargain supplemental players which gutted the soul of the team. During this time the Galaxy really took a hit with the departure of core players like Marcelo Sarvas and Juninho… LA didn’t even make the playoffs in 2017 and 2018.
The Galaxy has been pretty set in its ways for some time now, but we fans just never know how it will work out. Sometimes the Galaxy way hits pay dirt. For example, in 2014, I could almost swear that I was watching the second coming of Barca’s Tiki-Taka here in LA. Players like Landon Donovan, Keane, Juninho, Sarvas, and Stefan Ishizaki gracefully danced past opponents with ease en route to championship number five. However just months later several key players were moved out and Gerrard came into a league he seriously underestimated - goodbye tiki-taka!
Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan during a Galaxy training session.
Yet, even if the team isn’t successful, I do enjoy seeing superstars, who doesn’t? However I often wonder if it wouldn’t be more enjoyable to watch a team built with youth, speed, talent and chemistry the way Leipzig, Dortmund and even crosstown rival LAFC to some extent. The Galaxy has always had a glut of great academy prospects who manage to escape to other leagues. I think it would behoove the Galaxy to do everything in their power to keep these players here. It would have been nice to see Paul Arriola, Ulysses Llanez and Haji Wright sticking around to play with the newest wonder kid Efrain Alvarez. The team could really be LA through and through!
Ulysses Llanez (left) and Paul Arriola, members of the US men’s national soccer team.
Regardless of whether I like it or not, the reality is that the Galaxy will always try to bring in stars to attract attention from the soccer world. But wouldn’t it be interesting to see how much attention they could bring in if they showcased the best LA has to offer and spent some of that star money and effort on the stars shining in their own backyard instead of endlessly searching the entire galaxy?
