The LA Galaxy have reportedly expressed an interest in bringing Ashley Cole to MLS for weeks, and it appears as though the final hurdle has been cleared to complete the move.
According to the LA Times, AS Roma has bought out the remaining few months of the former English national team defender’s contract. An official announcement of his move to the Galaxy reportedly could be made by Tuesday.
The report also says that the Galaxy are nearing deals with 32-year-old Belgian defender Jelle van Damme and 31-year-old AC Milan midfielder Nigel de Jong.
Cole, 35, has not made an appearance for Roma since March 2015, but he previously played in 14 games during the 2014-15 season for the Serie A side.
What do you think of this development? Will Cole do well in MLS? Think the signing is good for the Galaxy?
Share your thoughts below.
All depends upon the price paid. Knowing Bruce it will be a discount rate.
Mickey Mouse League
Sucks Lletget and zardes are stuck on this team of 35 year old has been douchebags…
I hope someone breaks his leg.
I know this can’t happen but I am more curious as to how it would be enforced through the law. Say LA Galaxy pay DP Player #1 $10 million.
DP Player #1 choses to:
Pay non-DP player #1 $1 million
Pay non-DP player #2 $1 million
Gerrard: Yeah Ashley come over here for $200,000 a year…but don’t worry I will chip in another mil. I am done this year and just want to win.
How can the league (not the IRS or whatever) restrict it.
SWP probably gave some money to BWP during their time together at NYRB. How do you restrict that.
Stupid Sunday question.
Somewhere, LAFC are having a laugh and rubbing their hands with glee in anticipation of another few years of Arena stubbornly sticking to his tried and true formula for winning a title – namely experience wins, more than anything else. Sadly, he hasn’t realized that the league has evolved right under his nose, and he can’t just keep doing the same thing and expect to win. It’s the faster, younger teams that will dominate going forward, until there’s another evolution in the league, one that moves towards the technical to equal the young & physical. For now, the league is not even skilled enough on the whole to deal with young energetic opponents simply applying pressure madly all game long. And when done right, even the very best teams have issues with it. Arena, if he doesn’t adapt, will never win another title. Not an LAFC guy in the slightest, but somewhere they are rubbing their hands in glee reading about these Galaxy plans.
Arena does not have to adapt, it’s usually the League that adapts around Arena and the Galaxy. Due to the economics of the MLS and it’s salary cap, the relatively low amount of money the league receives in media rights (Compared to Europe and the other pro sports in the US) The MLS has to seek good value for price. Teams either have to develop players through there own academies, draft them from the college ranks or buy them outright. Thanks to the money the European media pumps into the leagues overseas,players in Europe and especially in England, players are overpriced. So the MLS buys it’s players from Central America, the Caribbean and now South America. When the league started, the MLS had around 20 percent of its players from abroad and most of those players came from Central America, with a few from South America.
They were cheap but good. Arena, who, through his time at U Virginia, had a keen eye for spotting talent, and brought in some talent from SA as well as good college kids and DC United ended up playing in almost all the MLS Cups in the first 5 years. Its always been the mantra of the MLS that you have to be “creative” in acquiring players. You look outside the draft, you look in small countries, and you look at “discounted: players. In Europe, and especially since the influx of the big TV money, clubs have been stockpiling young players in academies, reserve teams and even at the first team as young players are worth more, not because of their skills, but their “sell-ahead” or future value. This has left teams with limited roster spots, discounting 30 plus players like depreciating office equipment. Over the years, I have bought several cars at a local University auction, as they were depreciated off the books. here was still value and I acquired the well under the bluebook value. A few I turned around a resold to car dealers that very same day and profited.
I hate to say it but Bruce Arena is much like a used car dealer in finding value.
He has found that in 30+ players, many who have been depreciated off the books, he can find real value.
In the last three MLS Cups that Arena and the Galaxy have won, he has had teams with, on an average had 8 players over the age of 30. In 2012, he had 9. This year, if all the acquisition go through, he will have 10. Will he win another Cup? The odds are good he will.
But with the TAM money, and the bonanza from the transfer sales of Juninho and Gonzales, Arena went on a shopping spree and found great value in older, experienced players. While Ashley Cole is not the player he was only 5 years ago, I can pretty much believe that he is better than Dan Gargan or Todd Dunivant. who held down the corners over the last few years. And while Mike Magee may not win the League MVP ever again, he is motivated to play on a level that won him that award.
The value and price Arena payed for these players is astounding.
And NO, Arena does not have the Fountain of Youth in his backyard, but he has a great medical staff, excellent physios and a warm climate that is less harssh on muscles than many other MLS teams and has taken full advantage of the opportunities to “think outside the box” and like the Beckham experiment, it will reap benefits.
There will be those who rail at the idea of a retirement League the MLS has become, but that’s not true, we have a lower age average than La Liga, Serie A and theEPL. We just look for value and as NO transfer fee is usually required for these “older” players, it does not eat into the Cap.
Bruce Arena, crazy like a Fox
Agree Arena is wily and will do the best he can with what he’s got. But agree to disagree overall. Lleget and Zardes are great, but it’s not enough. Arena can’t build a squad based on aging Euros that still have some value anymore. The comps overall has gotten much better, and teams have done it youthfully. With Bruce, his new collection of soon to be retirees will fizzle out in the playoffs again, taking half a season to gel and unable to keep up with the physical demands of a long season. Without Bruce, they’d struggle much more. I wouldn’t be surprised if he calls it quits after this season and goes to a team with better prospects. He’ll be the Pat Riley of MLS.
As a Galaxy fan I can’t say I’m particularly happy with some of these signings mostly because of their age. Reading above about the “retirement league” comment, and the remark to Gooch is also a concern. I would like to believe these players are professionals and will give 100% when they step on the field. I’m thinking the Galaxy are bringing these players in to win a Championship this year. They may be past their prime but they are experienced players that have played in some of the top leagues in Europe. Also the Galaxy are keeping some young players from last years team and are bringing in some young players so there is depth on the team to rest the older players when needed. I’m also thinking most of these players probably won’t be in the league more than a year or two unless they show they have the stamina, ability, and professionalism to continue playing in MLS, and they are helpful in winning a Championship or more with the Galaxy. All that said I believe there has to be some trust in what Bruce Arena and the Galaxy management are doing. As fan I can’t make the management decisions. I can only hope management made the right decision in player movement and support the team on the field.
The Galaxy seem intent on being a show, which I guess makes sense given their locale.
I think this is good for the league because on the broadest level, this is quality entertainment.
Therefore, I don’t find this that embarrassing, though I get why this makes some people upset about what it does for our image among devoted, knowledgable followers of the beautiful game around the world.
It looks like we’re paying big for former stars that aren’t able to maintain their former playing status for good clubs in the top 4 leagues.
If it’s admitting that a few of our teams think those kind of guys can still be effective in this league, and want their star power for whatever reason, I don’t see the harm.
They can still be effective in the this league, it’s just hard to say for sure until we see how they handle their new environment and how they deal with the courses of a MLS season.
Keane, Drogba, Beckham, Henry, Dempsey, Angel, Villa, and Kaka are some examples of this type of situation working out.
I certainly have my doubts about these guys, but even if I’m wrong about that, how do the Galaxy pay for all these guys? Even though most are past their prime, they still won’t come cheap. Even though they sold off Omar and Juninho, they have used all their DP money and the TAM would maybe be enough for maybe one of them. But all? I just can’t see how they can fit all these new guys, don’t forget Larentowicz and Magee, too, under the existing salary cap. Is the league going to up the cap or what kind of legerdemain are the Galaxy pulling?
LOL. He’s so useless Roma pays him to go away, disses MLS as a retirement league and LA hires him? Where’s your pride MLS?
Finally one comment from you that actually makes sense
Cole LMAO… “Hey Stevie G, is it true you can get away for a couple of years here without having to earn your paycheck”? Stevie G.. “Hey Ash.. piece of cake, but you gotta remember to fake a pulled hammy before the midsummer matches in Houston, Dallas, KC, WDC, NYC, FLA … It gets hotter n hell in those cities”.. “but you can cruise at least 2 seasons before the local fans turn on you” “This ownership actually went out and picked up Gio last season LMAO” that guy couldn’t find the back of the net with a flashlight and a GPS!”.. “I set him up in his first game, he got lucky and buried it.. and picked up another one down the road but I was done with assists then so don’t recall who put it on his boot”…”but wtf.. You can have a great time here in LA Ashley m’ boy, and there are more nightclubs in LA than in the entire Eurozone! Welcome to MLS” Bwahahahahaha!
All this trash talk that everyone is doing above, but Bruce Arena has still won more MlS championships than any coach in history and successfully guided the USMNT thought their most successful World Cup since 1930. He knows how to build teams and win with them. No reason to think this will be any different.
And de Jong is the guy who broke Holden’s leg in the run up to the 2010 WC. As a Galaxy fan, I am less than happy about any of this.
Belgian here! Van damme was the player who called Gooch a monkey. Surprised the galaxy would sign this racist.
I think you’ve only earned a reputation if it’s true. In this case it’s not. The MLS still has a LOWER average age per player than the EPL, Serie A and La Liga and only slightly older than the Bundisliga. The Galaxy won 3 titles in the last 5 years with an average of 8 players over the age of 30 on the roster. With the addition of these players, they will have slightly more at 10, BUT they are all world class. The Galaxy have also signed, this year, 5 new players under the age of 25 and resigned 2 more, under the age of 25.
And yes Ashly Cole is so old, I remember the nursery rhymes sung to me when I was just a we lad many years ago:
Ol’ Ash Cole was a very old soul
And a very old soul was he;
He called for his pass, and he called for his cross
And he called for his DP’s three.
Every DP he had a play,
And a very fine play had he;
Oh there’s none so rare, as can compare
With Ol’Ash Cole and his DP’s three.
“With the addition of these players, they will have slightly more at 10, BUT they are all world class.”
No wonder Don Garber has encouraged this ridiculous Barnum and Bailey Circus approach. We have fan who believe Gerrard, Cole, Lescott, and de Jong are still world class.
I’ve never been accused of being a eurosnob but MLS and its fans are hard to take serious.
Garber hasn’t encouraged any of this.
MLS teams are given money and can do with it what they want. Bruce Arena and Chris Klein, as well as Dave Sarachen and Jovan Kirovski most likely made these decisions.These managers and front office “suits” have put together more wins, more MLS Cups, than anyone else in the MLS, so THEY know what they’re doing.
Bruce Arena likes experienced players and they have served him, the Galaxy and the MLS well. The Galaxy lost two great players this winter, but, also remember, they were found and brought in by Arena, who is still the best coach in the MLS. The Galaxy also probably had the biggest war chest of allocation money from the sale of player, TAM, and CCL allocation in the MLS and chose to go with players whom are World Cup veterans and have played at the very highest levels. Also remember they are coming over in mid-season for them and although most are not starting players, they are fit and healthy, which are what is needed as the Galaxy have very important pre-season matches in the CCL, where MLS clubs usually fail as they are, despite pre-season matches and training, are not as fit or in form as they will be in a month or two’s time.
These are NON-DP players that the Galaxy are getting ao, they should not be compared to DP signings, so if you’ve been around football for a while, you can see the “potential” value of these signings. I sat potntial as there is always a risk in bringing in foreign players to a new league.
We will see if the new signing work as the the CCl matches are only about 6 weeks away.
Ca$hley is getting paid again…maybe he should find Gerrard’s cell phone number before shipping off to that “easy” life in MLS.
“We get so much criticism on the age of some players that are brought in as Designated Players,” -Don Garber
As I’ve said before: that criticism and reputation is EARNED. Actual quote by Don “The Snake Oil Salesman” Garber when addressing the Drogba situation.
Cole, de Jong, van damme, lescott? Wow. The galaxy are trying to become the sounders. Old guys who will win a few games but run out of juice come playoff time. Good luck to them.
that academy is going to waste. good thing we have the union, red bulls, and fc dallas in MLS. didnt cole diss mls not too long ago?
“If I wanted an easy ride I would have gone to MLS.”
For context: He made that statement a little over a year ago. That’s an embarrassing signing on a number of levels for MLS.
MLS has no shame!! this f***** disses them a year and a half ago and this MLS fools still sign him. MLS is so desperate to be known as “big time” league!! lol!!