Former Borussia Dortmund midfielder Marco Reus stated that regardless of MLS not being fashionable in Germany, enjoying within the United States for the Galaxy was his first selection.
The Galaxy have unveiled Reus, who has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the membership.
“It’s a bit troublesome to say, to be sincere, it isn’t a well-liked league in Germany, however when gamers like (Lionel) Messi, for instance, come right here, then they concentrate,” Reus stated. “I believe this league is nice, with nice gamers, particularly on this staff. I’ve seen a whole lot of nice video games.”
Reus didn’t have a contract with Dortmund, however the Galaxy needed to pay Charlotte FC $400,000 in GAM, or normal allocation cash, for the rights to scout the participant.
“In MLS, it isn’t so simple as saying, ‘OK, we need to signal you,’ as a result of you need to deal with a whole lot of issues, together with scouting rights,” Galaxy normal supervisor Will Kuntz stated. “… When you signal a participant of Marco’s caliber and it isn’t a delegated participant contract, there’s a whole lot of hurdles and disclosures you need to soar by means of with the league in that. There’s a type of disbelief, proper, like we’re assuming we’re paying below the desk.”
Coach Gregg Vanney stated he plans to deploy Reus, who was a part of the Germany squad on the 2018 World Cup, in quite a lot of methods, masking a number of positions on the pitch.
“He’s a fantastic participant and he will be versatile, he can have completely different roles in our group,” Vanney stated. “We talked about some areas of the pitch the place we need to give him the ball, that he might help us generate our assault and that he could possibly be extra in a midfield position.”
The Galaxy have star Riqui Puig in midfield, main an assault that will be a bit completely different from what Reus would provide, however the brand new signing would not see that as an issue.
“This will be optimistic, collectively, however it is usually essential not solely (to assume) about me or Riqui, there are superb gamers on this staff,” Reus stated. “You can solely win a championship collectively and never alone. It is essential that we stay united in good occasions and dangerous occasions.”
Vanney stated Reus has been in Los Angeles for every week and expects his visa to be processed as quickly as attainable so he can participate in his staff’s match towards Atlanta FC on Aug. 24 at Dignity Health Sports Park (7 p.m. PT, AppleTV).
The Galaxy at the moment sit first within the Western Conference with 49 factors, with eight video games remaining.
Landon Donovan to educate San Diego Wave
San Diego Loyal soccer coach Landon Donovan appears to be like on throughout a apply on the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center on January 28, 2020.
(KC Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The San Diego Wave introduced Friday that former Galaxy star Landon Donovan, 42, would be the new interim head coach for the rest of the 2024 season.
Donovan, who lives in San Diego, beforehand served because the San Diego Loyal’s govt vice chairman of soccer operations after serving because the USL membership’s inaugural coach for 3 years.
Wave president Jill Ellis requested Donovan if she might advocate somebody to educate the NWSL membership by means of the tip of the season. Previous interim coach Paul Buckle had prior commitments and will solely lead the staff throughout the Olympic break.
“And I considered it for some time. I did not reply for a couple of hours,” Donovan advised the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I talked to my spouse and I stated, ‘Hey, that may be attention-grabbing.’ And so I texted Jill and I stated, ‘There’s a couple of individuals I might consider, however I’d have an interest in case you needed to have that dialog, too.’ And she referred to as and we began the method.”
Donovan stated he spent a few weeks “actually digging deep” to verify he was prepared for the job, realizing there are variations between the ladies’s and males’s video games. He watched the staff apply and was offered.
“There’s a whole lot of good qualities in a whole lot of the gamers,” Donovan stated. “There’s some dangerous habits that we are able to break fairly rapidly, which is thrilling to me. And I believe there is a willingness and pleasure from all these ladies to in all probability have a recent begin and to maneuver ahead and push for a very sturdy finish to the season.”
Donovan was one of the vital adorned gamers in U.S. soccer earlier than turning to teaching, profitable six MLS Cup titles (4 with the Galaxy) and turning into the one American participant to surpass each 50 objectives and assists throughout his profession. His 157 appearances are the second most in U.S. males’s soccer historical past.
