Gio finds his level...

Spursex

Alert Team
Giovani dos Santos to join Steven Gerrard at LA Galaxy




Midfielder should be free to play in August
Signs from La Liga’s Villarreal



Giovani dos Santos
Giovani dos Santos scored in last year’s World Cup against Holland. Photograph: Eduardo Verdugo/AP


Wednesday 15 July 2015 22.30 BST


Los Angeles Galaxy have added another high-profile international to their ranks with the arrival of the former Barcelona and Tottenham midfielder, Giovani dos Santos.

The Mexico international will line-up alongside another new arrival, former Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard, who is set to make his Galaxy debut on Friday night.

“Giovani is a special player,” said the Galaxy head coach, Bruce Arena. “He has experience and success competing at the highest level and we believe he will only continue to develop. We are happy to add him to our roster and have confidence he can be an integral part of our success going forward.”

Dos Santos joins from La Liga side Villarreal, and has won 89 caps for Mexico, playing in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. He is perhaps best known stateside for his brilliant goal in the 2011 Gold Cup final, which helped Mexico seal victory over USA. Dos Santos has a knack for goals on the big stage – he scored against Holland in last year’s World Cup.


“We are committed to assembling the best roster that will compete for championships year in and year out,” said the LA Galaxy president, Chris Klein. “Giovani is yet another testament to that effort by Mr Anschutz and our ownership group, who have continued to provide every resource for us to win. We’re proud to add Giovani to a list of great players who have represented the Galaxy.”

Dos Santos joins Gerrard and Robbie Keane as the team’s Designated Players. Omar Gonzales was previously Galaxy’s third Designated Player but a change in his status allowed another slot to be freed up.

Dos Santos is expected to join the team in August once his US visa has been approved.
 
He probably sees it as a really good move. Great place to live, probably paid highly and becomes a one of the more high profile players in the league.

He had a lot of potential but his personality was always going to let him down.
 
he had a really strong 2013/2014 season iirc. Not followed what happened to himt his season but why would you join the MLS at 26 if you're a starter in a top 6 team in La Liga?!
 
Galvin's Shinpads - 19/7/2015 04:21

Is there no salary cap system in the MLS? How are LA Galaxy able to afford all these players??

MLS allows teams to sign 4 (used to be 3) "designated players" that do not have their full salary count against the salary cap.

And MLS has a history of changing the rules (as they did mid-season this year) when ever one of the rich clubs wants. They introduced the new rules mid-season to allow LA Galaxy to sign GDS.
 
freundorfoe - 19/7/2015 11:11

he had a really strong 2013/2014 season iirc. Not followed what happened to himt his season but why would you join the MLS at 26 if you're a starter in a top 6 team in La Liga?!

Average player, with a below average attitude, he was always destined to slide down the leagues or slide down the clubs, he perhaps might have been more if he could stay away from the party life, but we're never know now - last season was another one where he got injured and became anonymous again.

Hopefully being closer to his family might help him mature and grow up and then he might turn into a proper player, but once to go to the MLS it's unlikely he'll be playing in a top class league again.