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LA Galaxy sign Carlo Cudicini

The Los Angeles Galaxy have signed Tottenham goalkeeper and former Chelsea player Carlo Cudicini for the 2013 season, the Galaxy and Tottenham announced on Monday.

Cudicini, 39, joins on a free transfer and is expected to step in and challenge for the starting role.

“We are delighted to be able to add Carlo Cudicini to our roster,” Galaxy head coach and general manager Bruce Arena said. “Carlo is an experienced and accomplished goalkeeper who we believe will be a great addition to our team and our defensive unit.”

Cudicini’s arrival likely spells the end of Josh Saunders’ time with the Galaxy. Saunders has started for both of the Galaxy’s recent MLS Cup title runs, but he wasn’t able to duplicate his outstanding 2011 form in 2012 once he became the team’s unquestioned starter.

The Galaxy currently have Brian Rowe and Cudicini under contract, and have reportedly agreed to terms with Brian Perk. They also have the rights to former Columbus Crew goalkeeper Wil Hesmer.

What do you think of this pick-up? See Cudicini starting for the Galaxy? Think LA should have signed Kevin Hartman instead? Surprised to see Josh Saunders on the way out in LA?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. It’s really sad but Saunders came down with a fatal GK problem, lost confidence. He really worried me and Arena has proved he is great at GK decisions. I like this move.

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  2. It was only a matter of time for Saunders. With Omar in the line up, the D minimized the chances he had to deal with, but when he did,he probably gave up more second chances off rebounds than any keeper in the league…hands of stone…sad to see him get the inevitable boot.

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  3. Josh Saunders’ problems seem bigger than anyone surmises. Remember, Saunders left the team in mid-season to go into the league’s drug-rehab program because of stress and family problems. Apparently, there’s a lot more to the story than that.

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  4. FOR THE LAST TIME!! there is no conspiracy about the cap!! Letting go of CHad Barret (wayyy over paid), trading Edson Buddle, and letting Beckham go left a lot of room! Also Wilhelmsson was not resigned.

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  5. I have no idea what LA’s salary cap situation is, but this just seems like the type of move that is not prudent in a salary cap league, especially one where the average talent of goalkeepers is much higher than the average overall player talent.

    I think for what LA is paying (presumably based no Cudicinis comments about wanting a max contract) Hesmer could have done a similar job for much less money.

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    • I agree, but this move could have other motives. Apparently Cudicini is close with Frank Lampard, with Kaka looking to sign with NYRB eventually (weather it be this Jan or in 2014), they should try and woo Lampard as much as possible.

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      • Why shouldn’t he listen? LA and NY are not the only two playing the game but someone should write an article on the allocation money as well as the amount of money being spent on players salaries for other teams that don’t count on the cap but teams are still paying out on them.

      • Yes but there are legal ways to bend the rules. Those with unlimited resources can bend the rules better than those without. So essentially, there is no cap.

      • Seattle has pretty damn good resources. And they let their best central defender go mostly because of the salary cap.

      • “Those with unlimited resources can bend the rules better than those without. ” – Somewhat agree, but that’s because they’ve decided that there’s some good reason to hemorrhage money for certain specific player salaries in their marketplace.

        If ,say, Columbus or Portland could talk Carlos Tevez into signing as a DP, their paying him maybe $6M+ annually fits within the $2.9M salary cap IF they’ve got the DP slot to use. Not saying that would make sense; just saying they could do it, in theory.

        The problem for even RBNY and LAG comes in fitting the rest of the team under the amount left after the fixed DP amounts are subtracted from the salary cap. The mysterious allocation money helps some, but isn’t a free pass for big market teams.

        So, yes, big markets have a natural advantage (everywhere). But there is some salary restraint in the MLS model for all teams. Not so in the EPL or La Liga.

      • “Yes but there are legal ways to bend the rules. Those with unlimited resources can bend the rules better than those without.”

        Just thought this needed to be quoted and highlighted. It applies so far out of soccer…

    • The Galaxy have quite a bit of room under the cap with Becks gone and allocation money from Buddle and thier CCL qualification. It is reported that Cudicini’s salary is sliding, according to how much cap they have, so It’s flexible if Kaka is suddenly released to the transfer market, if not then Cudicini’s contract eats up the cap space… whatever it is.

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  6. Personally, I think we should have picked up Hartman instead. I think we we would have sales some capspace and he is still very serviceable. Luckily he’s not a dp signing so I’m assuming at least 2 of our goalkeepers will be released.
    I think we need to focus on getting Juni signed full time from Sao Paolo and add a bonafied creative mid. Wether that be a dp of a cheap young star from south of the border.

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  7. Houston and LA have both tried to lure Gio but his agent said that MLS is not a league for 22 year olds. Maybe now that he’s 23…

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