Struggling Galaxy look to put a bad week — and Nigel de Jong deal — behind them
When the Galaxy signed midfielder Nigel de Jong last winter, they welcomed him to Southern California with a well-publicized news conference and videotaped tributes from teammates and club officials.
When de Jong left the team Monday, many of those same teammates found out about the move on Twitter.
“I had no idea,” A.J. DeLaGarza said.
Added defender Leonardo: “I was surprised. He said nothing about it.”
That’s because de Jong knew nothing about it much before Monday, when he booked a flight to Istanbul for another news conference with Turkish super club Galatasaray, which signed de Jong to a two-year, $5.6-million deal minutes after his contract with the Galaxy had been terminated.
De Jong’s sudden exit marked the end of a turbulent five days for the Galaxy, who also lost Jelle Van Damme (knee), Steven Gerrard (hamstring) and Gyasi Zardes (foot) to injuries. With captain Robbie Keane unavailable after playing for Ireland on Wednesday, Coach Bruce Arena will have to replace five starters for Saturday’s game with the Columbus Crew at the StubHub Center (7:30 p.m., TWCSN, TWCD).
“Believe me, I’ve had worse weeks than this,” a weary Arena said Thursday.
But probably not many. Van Damme is out for two to three weeks with a strained ligament in his left knee, while there is no timetable for Gerrard’s return from his fifth injury of the season. And Zardes, third on the team in both goals and assists, fractured a bone in his foot and won’t be back until at least the postseason — if the Galaxy, winless in their last six games, make it that far.
Meanwhile de Jong, a rugged player who pushed the envelope to give the Galaxy defense some bite, isn’t coming back at all.
“I don’t think it makes our team better,” Arena said.
Certainly not in the short term, with the Galaxy protecting an eight-point lead over San Jose for the final Western Conference playoff spot with eight games left — three of them coming in the next eight days.
Long-term, however, Arena, who is also the Galaxy’s GM, had no choice but to move de Jong. A two-time World Cup starter, de Jong, 31, had a trigger in his contract that would have given him one of the team’s three designated-player spots and a two-year contract worth approximately $6 million had he played in five of the Galaxy’s remaining games.
When Arena gave de Jong the deal in February, he said the Dutch midfielder would be “a great addition to the club for many years.” But recently he had a change of heart.
Arena is Major League Soccer’s top dealmaker, so his decision to back out of a contract that was a creative masterpiece suggests another big-name signing is in the works. Whatever player Arena might be pursuing and for how much, he wouldn’t say. But clearly he needed to save a designated player spot and some cash, so he offered de Jong a chance to return to Europe, completing the deal just hours before the summer transfer window closed and leaving the Galaxy shorthanded heading into the most important part of the season.
The sudden absence of five starters is both a blessing and a curse because it creates opportunities for players who have been awaiting their chance. De Jong’s MLS departure after 18 games and two suspensions could mean more playing time for Jeff Larentowicz and Baggio Husidic, for example, while the injuries create chances for Leonardo and midfielders Sebastian Lletget and Ema Boateng, among others.
“We’ve lost David Beckham. We’ve lost Landon Donovan. We’ve lost very good players every year,” Arena said. “And there always seems to be someone to step up.
“Guys want to play. But it’s not, ‘Tell me’; it’s, ‘Show me.’ We need to see performances on the field.”
Twitter: @kbaxter11
