According to multiple reports (Goal.com & ESPNFC), the LA Galaxy are looking to reunite current Designated Player Giovani dos Santos with his younger brother, Jonathan dos Santos in Los Angeles. The 26-year old midfielder is currently playing for Villarreal and on a five-year contract that began in 2014.
Jonathan dos Santos has started 15 games for La Liga’s Villarreal during the current season and put together 104 appearances in league and cup games since joining the club in 2014. He’s recorded three goals and two assists during that time and has generally been a part of a team that is currently in 5th place in the league.
However, Major League Soccer and his brother’s ability to have success in Los Angeles may be enough to sway the younger Dos Santos toward the beaches of Southern California. Afterall, Giovani dos Santos recently proved that being successful in the league could lead to National Team call-ups for Mexico. And MLS isn’t a dead end for a Mexican National Team player, as it once was.
In addition, it might be interesting to see what this soccer family – the Dos Santos’ – can accomplish in Los Angeles. It’s well known that this is a tight-knit family. With Gio and Jonathan’s father being their agent, and a former footballer (Zizinho), they’re no stranger to the leverage that comes from having two brothers on one team. And with a new LA Galaxy front office, they may be willing to fill a vacuum of power.
And all this comes amid the LA Galaxy’s apparent mandate to curb spending and reduce expenditures while focusing on younger self-developed talent through the LA Galaxy Academy and LA Galaxy II. But for a team that is also facing its last year before LAFC joins the league, perhaps reaching for a Mexican National Team player and a relatively respected name in the soccer community, isn’t a horrible idea. And youth could still be served with both Dos Santos’ playing on a largely returning LA Galaxy squad for 2017.
The LA Galaxy are currently weakest at midfield, even with the very high possibility that the team signs Jermaine Jones using Target Allocation Money (TAM). Only Emmanuel Boateng, who was superb in short bursts last year but very inconsistent, and Sebastian Lletget who played multiple positions in 2016, seem to have a lock on any considerable minutes in the midfield.
Jones would be another person to add to that list, but he only played nine games for Colorado last season, and he’s coming off a considerable injury to his ACL. Honestly, the fact the LA Galaxy seem to be willing to sign Jones for north of $500,000 (TAM can only be used on players who’s salary goes above the league maximum of $485K) seems to be a gamble in itself.
So at 26-years old, and playing in the midfield, Jonathan dos Santos could be a perfect fit for the LA Galaxy. But then again, this could be a wild goose chase that finds the LA Galaxy missing out on a younger midfielder while signing a 35-year old player that they’ll have to rely on. It’s a gamble on older legs that saw Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard start from the bench during the 2016 MLS Playoffs.
Regardless, the LA Galaxy are nearing crunch time. The preseason starts on Monday, January 23 and the LA Galaxy will need to start landing players to fill out the remainder of their roster. Have “dos” Dos Santos’ might be the perfect thing needed to kick-off the Curt Onalfo era.