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Galaxy add homegrown signings, foreign winger could be on the way

RaulMendiolaLAGalaxy1 (LAGalaxy)

By DAN KARELL

The Los Angeles Galaxy academy setup continues to produce talent for the first team.

At the 2014 MLS SuperDraft, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena confirmed to LA Galaxy Insider that the team had signed highly-rated attacking midfielder Raul Mendiola and forward Bradford Jamieson to Homegrown Player contracts.

“We signed a new player this year in Raul Menidola and Bradford Jamieson and we’ll probably sign another one in the near future,” Arena said. “We believe in the Homegrown Players.”

Mendiola, 19, is a former member of the Galaxy Under-18 squad and made nine appearances this year for the Galaxy reserve team. He’s reportedly had training stints in the past with both Pachuca in Mexico and Manchester City in England. Jamieson, 17, made three appearances for the reserve side off the bench and scored two goals in ten games for the Galaxy U-18s.

The Galaxy have plenty of history using Homegrown Players, especially with the amount of minutes that Jack McBean, Gyasi Zardes, and the now departed Jose Villarreal received in both MLS and CONCACAF Champions League play.

In other news, Arena also told LA Galaxy Insider that the team was in fact looking to replace Hector Jimenez’s roster spot with a foreign player. A report stated on Thursday that the Galaxy were closing in on a deal.

“We think that we’ll get someone over the next week and hopefully strengthen our team as well,” Arena said. “We’re getting close to where we want to be with our roster. There can always be a change or two but we’re getting close.”

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What do you think of this news? Excited to see that Mendiola is part of the Galaxy first team? What are your expectations of the two? Who do you think is the foreign winger the Galaxy claimed they would sign?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. “We signed a new player this year in Raul Mendiola and Bradford Jamieson” So are they going to surgically splice Mendiola and Jamieson into one player? Galaxy must be at the forefront of medical research/experimentation these days.

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  2. Great another player I can worry about finally becoming a citizen even though they have grown up here. Something needs to change with the process.

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  3. Southern California has been a hotbed of soccer for at least 20 years and produced an inordinate # of good players, so the Galaxy have a good pool to choose from.

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  4. I suspect in the near future that HG contracts will happen every year – 2 players at a minimum.

    Who? teams with track records of signing high quality hgs (LA,FCD, DC, TFC) will start fielding their own USLpro teams as reserve teams, which will end up being their top academy prospects being signed to USLpro contracts mixed in with roster spots 20-30.

    Why? More potential academy prospects are able to be signed to the club without the MLS roster restrictions. This allows teams to be competitive, but also allows them to build for the future, or substantially reduce the risk of losing players to foreign teams or the option of selling.

    I don’t think the draft will be gone until you see the number of independent academies gone or reduced. For example look at the US U-17 roster that Richie WIlliams just called up; there was a small % from MLS academies, meaning they are not attached to any MLS club.

    ……you get my point this has already been to long

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  5. Raul has a very high ceiling. Man City wanted him desperately but he would have lost his chance to get a US passport by maintaining residence overseas so he stayed in LA. He could develop into the best ACM the US has ever had and that’s not exaggeration. The son of former Prime Minister Tony Blair is an agent and allegedly the son and his mom tried to get Raul to sign with him. They are the ones who made the Man City connections for Raul also. The sky is the limit for this kid, a huge prospect.

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  6. LA Galaxy is doing well with HGP. I think they need to change their marketing. Maybe they already have and I haven’t noticed. But they need to emphasize how many of their players are local kids. Marketing slogans like “your community, your club” or something of that nature. Emphasize the nature of the club which is the fact its homegrown based.

    The TV ratings for LAG games are still very low. The billboards around town I’ve seen and the magazine ads just say stuff like “champions live in LA”

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    • If they want better TV ratings, then they need to do a better job of being on more TVs. By that I mean get off Time Warner Sports or whatevever that crap channel is and get ALL of your games on sports networks that the populus actually have access to.

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      • Who is the “populus” that you speak of? Because Time Warner Cable SportsNet is pretty much available to everyone in SoCal. I know The main provider who didn’t have it was DirecTv and they solved that around late November of 2012. I don’t know if Verizon, Cox or Charter have it, but how many TVs have them as the providers?

      • Only provider I could find that doesn’t have TWC SportsNet or TWC Deportes is DishNetwork, so your beef should be with them NOT the Galaxy.

      • I get TWC, but games are always blacked out cuz in Texas (el paso). I can’t even watch the laker games.

        BTW, there pregame and post game show is even good. I believe they feature one of Ives old writers.

  7. Hey it’s going happen every year. The ligaMX versus MLS player transfers has started and will never end until MLS have a bigger cap. True hurts 🙁

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    • That’s a fair observation (more coherent and cogent than your last), but just to set the record straight, Paul Arriola is the only LA Academy player that’s spurned MLS for Liga MX. LA is hardly a “farm team for TJ.”

      Villarreal is on loan, Herc had an entire career in MLS before heading south, Omar didn’t leave and Landon didn’t leave.

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  8. Was wondering if they had some homegrown signings they were planning since they shopped Villareal.

    Academies are going to make the Superdraft more irrelevant every year.

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    • Academies might actually make the draft more relevant every year. There are kids who at 18 will not be ready for a first team contract. Some of these kids could choose the college route and then be drafted after taking a different development route. Either way, better youth development is going to create better college players too, so the draft will still be a source of talent.

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      • you don’t need a draft in soccer. The only reason the draft exists is because of single entity and wage suppression.

      • A non-single entity organization could certainly have a draft if it wants to, like most North American team sports.

      • What is inherent in the game of soccer that means it does or doesn’t need a draft? What about what goes on between the lines makes soccer so special?

      • I get tired of repeating what anyone who has the ability to critically think should be able to come up with by themselves.

      • how insecure of you…

        the draft works and makes sense as A tool (not the only one, of course) for player acquisition. period.

      • Okay thanks, we weren’t sure. Did you hear that folk,s he just cleared up everything………..Sorry?…..What’s that?….. We don’t care what he thinks, we’re still gone to do it………….Oh, okay, I’ll tell him………… Yea they said they’re still gone to do it anyway………Well you tried.

      • Not necessarily. Keep in mind that players can be signed as Homegrowns even after they start playing college soccer. The former academy players in the draft are the ones that MLS teams passed on for four years.

  9. Galaxy is a farm team for Tijuana and ligaMX 🙂
    Omar almost left, Landon could have left to America for millions. I wonder if galaxy will change their name to galaxy mx club or Tijuana LA, jk. 🙂
    Hercules could have been a perfect DP for Dallas or Houston.

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    • Yeah, farm team for sure… or how about an “Almost” Farm Team since they ALMOST lost Omar and ALMOST lost LD and ALMOST…

      Derp.

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      • The Xolo’s were poaching. The lowest form of player acquisition. Fortunately, you can only poach a homegrown US player when he’s 18, Only the players national federation can sign a player under 18 to a Pro contract. Thee minute Arriola turned 19 he was a target for Liga MX, as is any homegrown or academy player in the US

        It’s a backhanded slap but there are a lot of Liga MX scouts as well as some Euro scouts. looking at the US academies for bargain deals. As fro the Liga MX,, they will look harder at players who have a family attachment to Mexico. But you would be surprised how much info Euro scouts will learn about a player, mainly to see if he is anyway eligible for a foreign passport.

      • Truth be told, I’m not sure if we can even consider it poaching. Arriola spent a very limited amount of time in the Galaxy academy and Tijuana is essentially a hop, skip and a jump away from his parent home which he stated made them a more appealing option.

      • How is that laughable? He was a fan favorite in Colorado and led MX in scoring with the least minutes of the others in the 3 way tie. He’s been a decent usmnt player when he’s had service and is definitely better than dp Eddie johnson

      • Edu has MUCH more to give MLS at this point in their respective careers. how much love is he getting? EJ = the same deal. Herc is way past his prime and coming off injuries. not to mention he bounced around MLS in his first go-round as a decent striker. a good player, yes, and someone who would enhance just about every MLS roster, yes, but nowhere near dp status.

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