The LA Galaxy announced the signing of former San Jose Earthquakes goalkeeper David Bingham, today. Bingham joins the club after his rights were acquired from the Earthquakes back on December 18 for $100,000 in General Allocation Money and $100,000 in Targeted Allocation Money.
The Galaxy separated from all three of their goalkeepers last season, sending Brian Rowe to the Vancouver Whitecaps, sending Jon Kempin to the Columbus Crew, and allowing Clement Diop to be selected in the MLS Waiver Draft by Montreal.
Bingham was originally selected by the Earthquakes in 2011 as a Generation Adidas player. After a short loan spell with Strømmen IF in Norway, he returned to the states as a starter in 2015 and started 91 games over the next three seasons. That includes the 2015 and 2016 seasons in which he started every game of both seasons (34 games for each year).
He eventually lost his starting spot in 2017 due to the play of, then backup, Andrew Tarbell. This left Bingham on the bench for a good portion of the season and made the Galaxy a good option for him.
In total, Bingham has played over 8,500 minutes in MLS and has a career Goals Against Average (GAA) of 1.24.
Bingham has also made three appearances with the US Men’s National Team with a victory over Canada at StubHub Center in 2016 being one of his more recent call-ups.
“David is a reliable option for us in goal and we’re excited to add him to the roster,” said LA Galaxy Head Coach Sigi Schmid said in press release. “He brings a wealth of MLS experience and we believe he is a player that will be part of our success in 2018.”
Bingham will take over the number one goalkeeper spot behind a defense that has been rebuilt with additions from outside the league. The Galaxy have added Norwegian Jorgen Skjelvik, and Venezuelan right back Rolf Feltscher. Additionally, the Galaxy have retained Dave Romney, Daniel Steres, Michael Ciani and have recently re-signed Ashley Cole.
The Galaxy have also been linked, by CoG, to goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre who’s likely to join the club in the backup role from North Carolina FC. Finally giving the Galaxy a full complement of goalkeepers for the first time since the end of the season.
The club will attempt to bounce back after the 2017 defense allowed more goals than any team in franchise history (67 goals). Last years team also finished with a franchise-worst minus-22 goal differential.
The club will report for preseason training on January 22 and will open up their season against the Portland Timbers on March 4 at StubHub Center.
