With J Hutcherson -- Interesting times for Bruce Arena's LA Galaxy, a club that could potentially be rebuilding in yet another season they're expected to at least make the playoffs. As the relative wonder that is the Pan-Pacific Championship approaches, the squad Arena fields could end up looking a lot closer to the one that starts the season.
Far be it from me to join in idle speculation, but we know a couple of things. One is that Landon Donovan has stated his preference to turn his loan deal into a permanent move to Bayern Munich. The other is that rumors of an extended, if not permanent, move to Milan will be shadowing David Beckham until he walks out of the tunnel in Carson. It would help if he happened to be wearing a Galaxy shirt.
Where this leaves Arena is already interesting. He's down a director of soccer, now that PAul Bravo has opted for a technical director job with Colorado. If there is a Galaxy youth movement, it's dwarfed by the work of several other MLS clubs. That puts the changes on more than just a willingness to spend to bring in talent alongside finding agreeable trading partners. It also puts the decision-making squarely on Arena.
LA is holding the third pick in a year when the player that should have been the number one pick and potentially another top five have already opted for Europe. That's a slide down (or, more to the point, up) issue for a draft class that would have to be surprisingly deep to help out LA past the first round. They're not up again until the third.
In a real sense, the draft becomes a wash. They can only do so much with the third pick overall, and picking up a Generation adidas defender might very well be the best move. That shouldn't be expected to show in 2009, again pushing the problem.
Unlike the good old days when the Galaxy squads were so loaded they could dispense with the services of future all-stars, who do they have that could easily be swapped for better options?
MLS in general is no longer the League of one-sided trades. The Galaxy's off-season move was to bring in Donovan Ricketts to correct letting Joe Cannon go at the end of the '07 season and Kevin Hartman a year earlier. Depending on where you put the relative quality of Major League Soccer against a promoted and relegated English club is how much of an adjustment period Ricketts might need.
Draft pick aside, the Galaxy defense is a couple of players and time from being a delight for any keeper. Rebuilding that is enough of a job, and for Arena the excuses are built-in. Fortunately for the Galaxy, he's never been the guy to take them.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
