LA Galaxy II announced, that for the very first time, the club will host open tryouts in England in the summer of 2017. The main purpose of the tryout is to expand the team’s talent pool and to discover players for the ongoing season and beyond.
The open tryouts will be held in London, at The Hive, on May 31 and June 1, and then the club will travel north to Manchester, at Univerity of Manchester Armitage Sports Centre, on June 3 and 4.
“We are looking forward to seeing new players in England and have organized this event to expand our efforts to identify talents,” said LA Galaxy II Head Coach, Mike Muñoz.
LA Galaxy II have previously held open tryouts in Las Vegas and recently, across the Pacific Ocean, in Japan.
Muñoz says that “We hope to find young, talented players that can enter our organization through Galaxy II and work their way up to the first team. Scouting for Galaxy II will give us a chance to evaluate numerous players, including hidden gems that may not have agents, players without a fair chance in the past, first time pros, or young pros who are not under contract. We want to make sure that everyone has a fair opportunity to be evaluated and earn a professional contract on our 2017 LA Galaxy II roster.”
The tryouts will conclude with 10 layers being flown to Los Angeles to train at StubHub Center for a further week of in-depth trials. All expenses for the trip will be covered by the LA Galaxy. That includes airfare, room and board, and a training kit.
One can assume that the entire organization benefits greatly from even the news of an American Soccer Club coming to England, hallowed ground for most lovers of the sport, to find the “diamond’s in the rough.” And perhaps, the club is also proving that they can compete for talent in a place as heavily mined as England. And the publicity that has popped up on both sides of the Atlantic surely doesn’t hurt as well.
Galaxy II are currently preparing for their 2017 season under new Manager Mike Muñoz who was promoted to the position after coaching in the LA Galaxy’s Academy system. The team has seen a lot of players make their way toward the Galaxy’s Senior roster and these tryouts may be a good way to fill some open positions.
The following is from the club’s press release
Full details for LA Galaxy II Open Tryouts are as follows:
- Participants must be male and 16 – 25 years old.
- Each participant is guaranteed (2) 60-minute, 11v11 soccer matches to impress the LA Galaxy II scouting staff. One game per day.
- The registration fee for (1) open tryout event is $185.
- In addition to the registration fee of $185, participants are responsible for all airfare, incurred travel costs, food and transportation to that specific event. Also note that LA Galaxy II will not help with Visas or letters of invitation.
- Players must come prepared for the tryouts with their own boots, socks, shorts, gloves, shin pads or any other equipment related to their position.
- LA Galaxy II will provide (2) numbered t-shirts to wear during your games. You will wear your own black socks/shorts with the navy shirt and your own white socks/shorts with the white shirt.
- Teams will be constructed randomly according to players preferred positions.
- Your kickoff times will be emailed to you one week prior to the start of the open tryout weekend.
- No refunds will be issued for any reason.