This past month or so, LA Galaxy have acquired 5 new players to the team. The players are defender José Antonio Alfaro Vázquez AKA Tony Alfaro, defender Maya Yoshida, winger/forward Diego Fagundez, winger Michael Barrios, and defensive midfielder Edwin Cerrillo. So who are these players and why did LA Galaxy acquire them? Well, first of all, they're trying to improve their team who are 13th in the Western Conference MLS Standings and just got elimaited from the Leagues Cup. Also, they lost key players- Chicharito, Gastón Brugman, and Martín Cáceres to long-term injuries. I've already wrote about Diego Fagúndez so check that out on my website but let's learn about the others.
Defender Tony Alfaro was acquired from New York City FC on July 11 in exchange for $125,000 in 2023 General Allocation Money (GAM). He's already played 2 games for the LA Galaxy, last 2 games in Leagues Cup, and lost both games but wasn't too bad. Before LA Galaxy, he's had some MLS experience. Alfaro, 30, made 74 career regular-season appearances (46 starts) and recording one goal and two assists across six seasons played (2016-18, 2021-Present) in MLS. In three seasons played for Sounders FC (2016-18), after being drafted by Seattle with the 27th overall pick in the second round of the 2016 MLS SuperDraft out of California State University, Dominguez Hills, Alfaro made 25 regular-season appearances (12 starts) and won the 2016 MLS Cup. Alfaro spent 2019 in Liga MX making 17 appearances there. In 2020, he played in the USL where he played 11 games. So although Alfaro hasn't had the most impressive career, he's stepped it up the past few years by getting out of the lower league USL. And these past 2 games for LA Galaxy, so far not bad.
Defender Maya Yoshida signed with the LA Galaxy through the 2024 season. The center back was a free agent after last playing for FC Schalke 04 in the German Bundesliga. This was Galaxy's first international signing in a while as they were previously banned from signing internationals for quite some time. Yoshida is getting quite old, turning 35 this month but still a great player who played in the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, Eredivisie, and more. Lot of experience in those top soccer leagues, during his club career, Yoshida has tallied 28 goals and 15 assists in 463 appearances. He's also had a great career playing for his country, Japan. Yoshida played at the last 3 World Cups for Japan, contributing to 126 overall appearances (the third-most in program history). He captained them just last fall at Qatar 2022 as they fell to Croatia in the Round of 16. So even though Yoshida is getting old, he's most definitely still got it especially enough to compete in the MLS. With the acquisitions of Alfaro and Yoshida, Galaxy get 2 experienced center backs after Martín Cáceres suffered a long-term knee injury.
Winger Michael Barrios acquired from the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a 2024 MLS SuperDraft first-round pick. As mentioned in another article with Diego Fagúndez, Galaxy need some better wingers on their squad. Barrios, 32, has quite a lot of experience in the MLS as a winger. He scored 43 goals and logged 60 assists in 266 career regular-season appearances (207 starts) across 9 seasons played in MLS (2015-Present). In 2019, Barrios ranked third in MLS with 15 assists. In three seasons with the Colorado Rapids (2021-23), Barrios scored 12 goals and logged 16 assists in 87 regular-season appearances (51 starts). During the 2023 season, Barrios, who will not occupy an international roster slot on the Galaxy roster, logged 2 goals and 2 assists in 20 league matches played (7 starts) for Colorado. Not as good but Colorado are last in the West and it could be the players around him aren't helping him. A change of scenery will be good for him and like Fagundez, an experienced winger will be good for Galaxy.
Finally, defensive midfielder Edwin Cerrillo acquired from FC Dallas in exchange for $200,000 in 2023 General Allocation Money (GAM). Cerillo, 22, is pretty young and has already played almost 100 MLS games. He's set to probably become Gastón Brugman's replacement, who will miss some time. Cerrillo at a young age was a consistent starter for FC Dallas for the past three seasons and has four assists in 87 league games (62 starts). Good signing for the Galaxy.
Overall, these were some good signings for the LA Galaxy. They clearly need some type of change after being knocked out of the Leagues Cup and sit 2nd to last in Western Confernece MLS Standings. They're 1 good Forward signing away from becoming a pretty good team. We'll see.
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