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Report: Dos Santos rejected Galaxy offer

GiovaniDosSantos1-MexicoConfedsCup (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

Earlier this month, reports emerged that Mexico National Team star Giovani Dos Santos was offered a lucrative deal to come play with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.

As of Wednesday, reports out of Spain are claiming that Dos Santos and his club RCD Mallorca have rejected the reported €8 million transfer fee and €2 million per season contract offer from the Galaxy. The news of the rejection has La Liga clubs Valencia and Villarreal ratcheting up their interest in the 24-year-old La Masia product.

The Galaxy, who have an open designated player spot, will now have to raise their transfer offer if they want to continue their pursuit of the El Tri star, who has turned down overtures from MLS in the past, and appears intent on staying in Europe.

Last season at Mallorca, Dos Santos played 32 games in all competitions and scored six goals, all of them in La Liga as the side suffered relegation to the second division on the final day.

What do you make of this news? Do you see the Galaxy raising their offer? Do you believe Dos Santos’ signing could be a turning point for MLS?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. All the hate in these comments is odd. Gio hasn’t lived up to the hype certainly but he is still a good player who has been stuck in some unfortunate club situations, i.e. when he was in Redknapp’s doghouse. He is clearly still good enough to play in Europe, he was a good player in La Liga last year. It does seem a bit like he has a high opinion of his self which may hurt him but he is still a good player. LAG made a reasonable offer and he declined to stay in Europe, can’t fault him for that.

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  2. Players in their prime will never come to the MLS because MLS doesn’t allow its clubs to negotiate stuff like no trade clauses and other non-economic terms.

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  3. $8 mil transfer +$2 mil salary a year is way too much for a a club like LA Galaxy anyway when you consider how much time Dos Santos will miss each summer because of international duty.

    MLS clubs are better off sticking with homegrown players + players who are good but not international quality and/or already retired from int duty.

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  4. Lost in all this is the continuing Galaxy BIG problem: they can’t find a quality DP willing to come to their team. At the season ticket holder town hall meeting in March, Arena and Klein stood in front of a room full of supporters and could barely contain their excitement over the imminent arrival of a “world class player.” “You’ll know by May,” Arena told everyone. By May, all Galaxy fans knew that Lampard and Kaka had said no. Now Dos Santos too. Meanwhile, Galaxy have been fielding desperately thin lineups featuring three or four or five or even six rookies and reserve teamers in every match. Sarvas and Juninho are getting killed playing almost every minute trying to cover for all the kids Arena has been forced to field. Galaxy’s recent run of form reflects this.

    The Mastroeni signing was a desperation move to try to find someone – anyone – with a little class and experience to play in the Galaxy midfield. Everyone assumes that the Galaxy will just flick a switch come August and make another deep Cup run. But the reality is, they’ve got only four or five reliable class players, and otherwise are worrisomely thin. Rave about their academy system all you want, but it’s the Mike Magees of the world that helped the Galaxy stars win two Cups, not the Gyasi Zardes and Jose Villareals.

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    • i do see where you are coming from, but Lampard, Ronaldinho, and Kaka are fighting for the WC inclusions. and no matter how much we love MLS, it’s hard for players on major international teams like Brazil and England to come to MLS and still play internationally. i’m not saying that is fair, but it is the case.

      Drogba and Anelka took the money in China but are regretting it. Even Forlan went to South America to keep his WC hopes alive. even if Lampard and Kaka are not coming right now, i think MLS could easily see Drogba, Ronaldinho, Forlan, etc. pull the trigger for next season. we’ll see…

      but i guess my point is that while it doesn’t look great for LA, there have been circumstances outside of LA’s control that have played major roles in the decision making of those players.

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    • the Magee trade was the one move that blindsided and has really hurt, just NO way around that yet, a blow to the depth that has yet to be filled. Unless one of the kids makes that happen or Rogers does, it will continue to hurt. Missing Gonzo is always a big problem for this team too so let’s see with him back now, and Keane. Zardes/Rogers, and when he returns Villareal, need to step up with consistency and maybe the void of Magee begins to be filled

      the depth is young, time to grow up

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      • and it never should have happened considered Rogers was out of contract and should have been able to sign directly with any team he wanted to sign with. Except because of MLS’s stupid rules Chicago owned his rights.

        or as Rogers put it on twitter #norightsinthemls

    • Really who? And it has to be a legitimate player no Messi or Ronaldo. If you look at it all LA dps are and were over 30. And no Donovan doesn’t count. You may find a better player but he will be older with less gas in the tank.

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  5. I like him,but he isn’t the total package that the Galaxy need. He could help with many things (including attendance, and probably knock Chivas out of town for good), but he won’t solve all of their problems. The Galaxy lack a backbone right now. No matter how good Juninho is (pretty good), the Galaxy need a stronger creative or defensive (with creative skillz) in mid field or another world class Striker.

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  6. seriously, i’m going to flip out if people can’t start reporting dollars, euros, or pounds correctly. the Marca article says 8m EUROS, not dollars like SBI reports. MLS says Euros too. i know the old reports said $8M, but the article linked here does specify Euros. it’s just really confusing.

    especially because Mallorca want 8M Euros to begin with. and because other reports say Valencia offered right under 8M Euros…despite this one saying they only offered 4M Euros.

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  7. He’s a lot like a better Robbie Rogers. Great hair, good skill on the ball, FAST, and largely ineffective beyond that.

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  8. Guy thinks too high of himself. He’ll sign for Galaxy in a couple of years after average spells at Levante and Osasuna

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  9. He is a good player and would put butts in the seats, but as a galaxy season ticket holder it would have been hard to cheer for a Mexican National Team player.

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  10. Fair game for the Galaxy trying to push MLS to the next level by signing a player of the age and skill of Dos Santos. I don’t see this sort of transfer happening for quite a few years from now though, MLS is still not good enough for a player of the calibre and the time of his career as Dos Santos.

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  11. Promising starlet to any MLS club. Hahahahaha! Comical. Even if on last place La Liga side, still better off in Europe. Maybe an American player wants to “come home”, but for foreign players . . . no freaking way. MLS is for has been stars and sacker (soccer with notable American accent) players who can’t make the grade elsewhere.

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  12. Commend the Galaxy on making an offer and a good one for him. Commend him for not making the move to continue playing at the highest level in preparation for next summer’s World Cup. He’ll go on loan next season and preferably anywhere but EPL.

    I see it as win-win. MLS shows that it’s willing to spend money on top players when the opportunity presents itself.

    Wish my club (the Fire) would actually spend some money on a good player instead of saying one thing and doing zilch.

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    • “Wish my club (the Fire) would actually spend some money on a good player…”

      Your obviously don’t know (and haven’t been paying attention to) the wonderfulness that is Mike Magee.

      And you got him for a simple rights trade.

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      • Here’s the deal, it’s a long season in MLS and as good a player Mike has been and for a long period of time, the Fire needs more than him if they’re going to be successful this season. Players get hurt, and tired and that’s when the play-offs are decided. This team isn’t deep enough at the moment. So, while things are going well at the moment this Fire fan is more concerned about who steps in when someone goes down.

  13. In ligamx he will easily get everything he wants, money, cars, house, girls and the team he wants to play for, which will be tigres, monterrey rayados or america or chivas.

    As for mls, nice try but he will stay in europe for less money and better future. He said he will retire in a america jersey.

    But whats going on with galaxy and the other cheap teams. I thought galaxy would sign kaka in a instant and forget about other Dp signings.

    So theres kaka,drogba, torres, forlan,ronaldinho a many more.

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    • Very true. I think that a lot more DP caliber players will be available next season. Many are trying to stay in a more relevant league while still holding out hope for a World Cup roster spot

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  14. LAG knew Gio wasn’t going to commit career suicide by playing in the MLS. They made the bid to get their name out there. Smart publicity.

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    • Could be but not sure about that. Don’t forget the 8milltransfer-2millsalary was the initial offer. I’m sure Dos Santos could have negotiated a higher salary if he was interested.

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      • If money was what he was after than he would be in Mexico.

        Guardado said it best, in Mexico he would be making 3x what he makes at Valencia.

      • Not true. The highest paid player in Mexico is Humberto Suazo making 3 million. Galaxy paid Beckham over 6 million, Keane 3.5 million. Henry made 6.5 million, Marquez made 5 million. On average the Mexican league pays more than MLS. However, there are a few players in MLS that make more than anyone in the Mexican league.

      • i think the point was more that a Liga MX team would cough up an insane amount of money, 3x more than a Euro team would, to get his signature. i don’t think he was comparing MLS to Liga MX in the way you are.

    • Meh. Salary inflated beyond his production, the sort of team that can afford him often has enough talent around to cut into his playing time, eg, Hotspur, Barca. If he was wise he’d drop down a notch to Holland, Scandinavia, MX, MLS, be the big fish in the smaller pond, solidify his career going into the World Cup, then re-launch into Serious Europe from a position of strength.

      But if history says anything he’ll sign for a high paycheck, may or may not play, may or may not be relegated, and he’ll be on to another team in 1-2 years.

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  15. Impressive fee offer (I guess triple the previous high by MLS), but sounds like a very low salary no matter how you want to look at it.

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  16. Why would he come to the Galaxy? I am a supporter of MLS, but our growth is going to come through development, not signing talent for 100 times what some league players make. Dos Santos would not benefit from the US, because he is a rising star, and MLS would not get that much upside from him. Although Gio is excellent, he is not a big marketing force yet. In all honesty he is 2 contracts away from MLS. While we still have players making $44,000 I don’t think we can honestly talk about single signings being turning points. When most teams have players like Zardes and Villareal coming through constantly, such that the floor of the league is raised, then these marquee signings of young blockbuster players make sense.

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    • But other teams in this league don’t have guys coming in like Zardes, McBean, and Villareal. We’re it. Yedlin is like the only guy worth anything from another team and that guy has giant holes in his game, namely his man-defense.

      Gio would be a huge marketing force for the Galaxy and I’d bet that he’d become a better player for his national team as well. He would get playing time and great coaching to develop into the player everyone thinks he is, but isn’t yet.

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      • This is so incredibly far from the truth it’s laughable. While I think it is fair to say that youth development is transitioning to accommodate what MLS defines as “homegrown” and MLS franchise academies are for the most part in their infantile stages. To think that the LA Gals are “it” when it comes to youth development is ridiculous.

        Most agree that FC Dallas is the consensus league leader in player development right now.

      • And yes I meant to say “Most agree that FC Dallas is the consensus…” because even those that disagree with Dallas being the leader, agree with the reality of the consensus opinion.

      • Agreed. Plenty of other teams with solid young talent. That said, Dos Santos would’ve been a pretty massive marketing coup. I’m not a huge fan, though he is talented. However, from a league development standpoint, at some point you’d like to see MLS bring in a star Mexican player in his prime to a) convert more Hispanic fans and b) encourage other stars from Mexico and South and Central America to come to MLS versus Liga MX or other leagues. We’ve already made some strides in this regard, but IMO the first step for MLS becoming a truly global league (as is their stated goal) is to become the top league in the Concacaf region and then to conquer South America.

      • To All: Please stop assuming and stating that a Mexican player will attract more “Hispanic fans”. This is BS! Hispanic does not equal Mexican or vice versa. I am Hispanic, but not Mexican. I also know that a Mexican player will attract some Mexican fans, but to generalize that they would attract Hispanic fans is laughable.

      • My apologies. I meant to remove the “vice versa” part of my comment ( I was initially writing something different). Please disregard that text.

      • i get your point, and it truly is a point that seems to need to be repeated (much like Hispanic does not specify race), but take the conversation in hand and think for a second. this is LA. the extreme majority of Hispanics in that area ARE Mexican.

        but again, i can understand why you would want to point that out anyway.

      • Using Mexican players has worked so well for Chivas USA. They now have the lowest attendance in MLS in a city with the most people of Mexican heritage of any city other than Mexico City. If a team wins, it doesn’t much matter where their players come from.

      • Umm, what? Aguedelo (he’s still young and was developed by MLS, but I will concede he is not with his original team) and Fagundez would beg to differ. And that’s just on the Revs.

      • I would agree that LAG is doing relatively better from their academy kids. LAG gets many starts, routine minutes, and about a half a dozen goals total from their academicians. However, they also get the benefit of cherry picking SoCal’s US-oriented talent, and then claiming rights in the HS years, which is what the academy system really is right now.

        The reality is that the academy systems are blah, the products are not coming out diamond carved, they adorn a lot of reserve loans, benches, reserve teams, release lists. You can even argue that the current approach to decentralized player development through MLS relates to our youth team woes at the national level.

        LA is better than many but I’m not sure if MLS academies are better than playing abroad or even traditional club + college yet. Last year’s final three on ROY were two Louisville products plus an Akron…..not the academy boys.

        FWIW, the Houston Astros make the same sort of claims about the ability to rebuild a team from within and look at us. I think most teams built exclusively from youth academies and drafts would be pretty bad. The quality of the top end matters a lot and it’s been the trio of DPs plus Gonzo healthy that’s gotten LA where it wanted to be for two years….not the academy…..

      • Agree with what you are saying but we have to be realistic….. MLS academies are literally in their infancy/JUST getting started. Frankly, I am surprised they are doing as well as they are. I only hope the League continues to push this hard as a priority. Even though it ain’t as sexy as signing stars out of European leagues it really is the best hope for both MLS and U.S. soccer making a surge.

        As for OG staying in LA? Just don’t see it. Seems he has other ambitions and assuming he makes a wise choice in destination regarding playing time, the challenge of a new team/league/coaching staff would probably serve his continued development. Be surprised if JK wasn’t whispering in his ear to move on as well.

  17. AEG pays Drew Doughty 8 million dollars a season and he makes them nothing in return. LAG could afford to pay GDS 5 mil per season.

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    • I go back and forth on this. Short term, definitely; Omar would do a lot more to help LA win over the next couple of years than Dos Santos would. On the other hand, they need to start thinking about rebuilding the attack. Donovan and Keane are not getting any younger.

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  18. I had a feeling that this would fall through. Dos Santos just doesn’t seem interested in playing for MLS, unfortunately.

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    • To be fair, I’m pretty sure he’s not interested in playing in Liga MX either. It is likely less about the money than it is his desire to succeed in Europe. After a really promising start with Barcelona, it’s not too hard to understand why he might see returning back to North America as a step in the wrong direction.

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  19. No way should Gio go to LA. Not that the MLS is a bad league. Its just that his talent can reach its fullest potential with regular play for a champions league club.

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    • Yeah, but do we want that? As a Galaxy fan and a USMNT fan, I think Gio to LA would have served my interests quite well. 😉

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    • Except that his team is in the second division and no Champions’ League team are going to take him? And this is one of the only years in Europe he’s played more than 25 games for the first team?

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      • In fairness, Valencia finished fifth in La Liga, so will be playing in the Europa League next season and are also moving into a new 75,000 seat arena, so they have big aspirations. Villareal will be battling as they re-enter La Liga after being promoted, but that’s still a club with some history.

        Anyway, with Valencia Dos Santos definitely has the potential to reach the Champions League within the window of a 2 or 3 year contract, so that is tough for the Galaxy to compete with. That said, he’s going to have to battle some talented forwards and wingers for playing time. Plenty of games to go around, but Dos Santos does need regular playing time.

      • yeah, that’s why he needs to just accept Valencia’s bid and stop trying to jack up his price! granted, Mallorca don’t want to sell him for less than 8M Euros since Spurs get a cut. but still, Mexican fans want to act like this kid has so many options…but he doesn’t. for all his success on the international level, he has done nothing at the club level. he played 0 minutes when Barca won the Spanish Super Cup. other than that, his silverware at the club level is at the youth level. which is great for him. but it doesn’t mean he will get on a CL team.

    • He couldn’t even get regular playing time with Spurs so this guy isn’t good enough

      for a CL quality team, let alone a top 6 Premier League team.

      Only time I’ve seen him play hard is for Mexico. He never can elevate his game for his clubs

      like he does for Mexico. It’s a mental issue for this guy.

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      • Redknapp is the reason why he couldn’t get time at Spurs, he tried to sell him to Udinese for 9m€ but Dos Santos refused because he wanted to go to Spain and the offers weren’t as big, AVB asked him to stay at Tottenham last summer and he was nominated for La Liga best XI last season.

      • That paints the picture as if Redknapp didn’t care for him, therefore he didn’t play.

        While as a Spurs fan, I agree that Redknapp could get set in his ways and play favorites, there was a lot of noise that GDS wasn’t living up to the standards of professionals (showing up late for training, partying on the weekends, not training at 100% effort). As we saw with Jozy, once issues like that arise, it can be hard to re-earn a coaches trust.

        Bottom line though, GDS had 3 chances to impress coaches (more on loan) and never really got it done.

        That’s not to say he’s a bad player, or that he can’t reach his potential, but beyond some links to CL teams, I’d be surprise to see any big CL team spending the 8-10mil it would cost for him.

      • no one except Redknapp have mentioned anything about the supposed parties, Rijkaard (Barcelona and Galatasaray), Marcelino Garcia (former Racing and Sevilla manager), and Mallorca’s president all have said good things about him, the reason why he is linked to Villarreal is because Marcelino Garcia already coached Dos Santos in Racing, the problem is that he only wants to play in Spain, a country with big economic problems where most teams except Barcelona and Madrid can’t afford to spend more than 10m€ each season, that’s why he had to be loaned so many times, if you are a Spurs fan you must knew that Levy is a big jew.

      • He was implying that because Levy is a jew, he would be cheap. I don’t know if Levy is a jew, so he could also have implied that Levy is cheap, thus a Jew. All of it anti-semitic.

      • yeah, and none of those teams are putting up the money to sign him. only Valencia has something concrete and yet nothing has happened. Mexico fans told us Valencia would sign him ASAP and easily meet the asking price because GDS is worth every penny.

        my point is simply that when GDS is having a hard enough time to sign for Valencia, it’s silly for Mexican fans to talk about CL teams. because lets be honest, they are talking about teams like Bayern, Madrid, Barca, United, etc.

      • Valencia already made an offer rejected by Mallorca, they want him and their director already said he is their main target, also Mallorca’s president said he wouldn’t accept any offer until Dos Santos went back to Spain

      • i understand that, but Valencia offered BELOW the price Mallorca set and has not budge since then. why? because they don’t value him at 8M Euros+ or don’t have the money. now, i did not know Mallorca was waiting until GDS was back in Spain, but i assumed as much anyway. he wouldn’t sign while he is in Brazil.

        my only point was that Mexican fans think he can easily walk into a CL team and that he shouldn’t except anything less. that is ridiculous because the truth is, there are no CL teams lining up to spend 8M Euros for him. and 8M Euros is chump change to the CL teams the Mexican fans refer to.

        personally, i think he should go to Valencia and sign the second he is back in Spain. but this idea that GDS is demanding attention from CL clubs in unfounded. GDS is only a star in the US and Mexico. he CAN be a world star as he has the ability, but until he shows that at the club level, he won’t be. and to be fair to GDS, it took until Mallorca for him to get his chance. and i think he could run away with it at Valencia.

      • i understand that, but Valencia offered BELOW the price Mallorca set and has not budge since then. why? because they don’t value him at 8M Euros+ or don’t have the money. now, i did not know Mallorca was waiting until GDS was back in Spain, but i @ssumed as much anyway. he wouldn’t sign while he is in Brazil.

        my only point was that Mexican fans think he can easily walk into a CL team and that he shouldn’t except anything less. that is ridiculous because the truth is, there are no CL teams lining up to spend 8M Euros for him. and 8M Euros is chump change to the CL teams the Mexican fans refer to.

        personally, i think he should go to Valencia and sign the second he is back in Spain. but this idea that GDS is demanding attention from CL clubs in unfounded. GDS is only a star in the US and Mexico. he CAN be a world star as he has the ability, but until he shows that at the club level, he won’t be. and to be fair to GDS, it took until Mallorca for him to get his chance. and i think he could run away with it at Valencia.

  20. Have to give credit to the Galaxy for making the offer, however, I’m not totally surprised Dos Santos rejected the offer. He is a skilled young player who would like to fulfill his potential in a top league. I hope MLS teams continue making offers for top young players. Maybe next time it will be successful.

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    • I agree that the transfer market sweet spot for MLS should be younger talent more in its prime and more valuable for any further transfers. But GDS is forever dangling himself in front of AEG teams to drive up his price abroad, did it with Houston a few years back. It’s a little iffy to claim he’s so above us he should be in a top league, after all, that’s why his entreaties are taken seriously.

      I think we will be truly in the game for this sort of player if/when salaries rise to the level of compensatory competitiveness for that level of player. Right now it would be a stretch but I don’t think it’s bad for MLS to be more restrained.

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    • I can’t see it being a good fit for the Galaxy, EXCEPT for marketing purposes. Dos Santos has shown brief instances of creativity, but outside his speed, he is a so-so finisher and just an OK passer.

      But it shows how hard it is to compete on the transfer market, when the MLS team has to deal with transfer fees. Under MLS rules, the transfer fee must be carried by the MLS team as a total compensation., ie the transfer fee gets totaled under the players salary and counts towards the cap. This doesn’t much matter as a DP as only the first 120K or 330K counts towards the salary cap, but you are only allowed 3 dps and for the other roster spots, the transfer fee can put a big hole in your cap.t doesn’t go along way.

      Yhis encourages teams to go after non-DP foreign players with small or no transfer fees. Not a sign of building quality.

      The funny part is is that the MLS team after springing for the DP and paying the transfer fee, does not own the player or his rights, the MLS does.

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      • yeah, gio hasn’t quite lived up to expectations and is a little over-rated, but you are way too negative on him… he would DOMINATE in MLS. From what I’ve heard, he was pretty effective for Mallorca last season, ergo, he would be extremely effective here. the mapp comparison is silly.

    • The Galaxy as a general matter are not guilty of this, but fans should be wary of splashy and unlikely transfer bids, it can be a way of sounding active while not being particularly so. The bottom line is whether a team on the market does eventually address their needs, and whom they fill the spot with. You only field the ones you do sign, not the ones you gave a college try.

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      • Martins came here at 28, Keane came at 30, Cahill came at 32 I believe. The league is getting younger players constantly, the retirement league persona is gone.

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