Galaxy’s new midfielder Joao Pedro is fitting in already
Joao Pedro had never set foot in the U.S. before Saturday. But he had already seen so much of the country on TV, when he got off the plane everything seemed familiar.
“I see a lot of movies. All kinds of movies,” said Pedro, a Portuguese midfielder who joined the Galaxy this week. “I like comedy TV series. ‘Two and a Half Men.’ ‘The Theory of the Big Bang.’ ”
Close enough.
Because if Pedro’s can adjust to MLS as quickly and comfortably as he’s embraced his slightly fractured English, then his transfer fee — after a month of negotiations, the Galaxy paid just less $1.5 million for his rights — will prove a bargain.
“Any time you bring in players from the outside, how long will it take them to adapt?” Coach Curt Onalfo said. “There’s a whole off-the-field thing in terms of getting settled in, living. It doesn’t happen right away.”
The Galaxy has less than six weeks to make it happen if they intend to get Pedro acclimated by the team’s regular-season opener. Complicating that timeline is the fact Jermaine Jones, Pedro’s central midfield partner, is training with the U.S. national team and won’t join the Galaxy until early next month.
After Tuesday’s 85-minute practice, his first with the Galaxy, Pedro is eager to get to work.
“The league is growing. I want to be part of this,” said Pedro who appeared relaxed in his new surroundings, laughing and smiling repeatedly. “It’s a great opportunity.”
For the Galaxy as well.
Traditionally the team’s European acquisitions have been established, and expensive, players such as David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard. Over the last season and a half, however, the team also added twentysomething forward Gio dos Santos from Spain and little-known Belgian defender Jelle Van Damme, who proved to be the Galaxy’s two best players last year.
In Pedro, the team is getting a 23-year-old holding midfielder who has spent his entire career with his hometown team, Vitoria Guimaraes, joining the youth academy when he was just 12 and working his way into a starting spot with the first team this season, when he made 17 appearances in Portugal’s Primeira Liga.
Pedro described his style as “simple, efficient,” a contrast to the physical, often flamboyant play of Jones.
“I recover the ball. I’m not a player with too much dribbling,” he said. “I play easy. The fewest touches possible.”
Onalfo was coy about whether Jones and Pedro would be the team’s only new midfielders this winter.
“There could very well be an addition prior to the start of the season,” said Onalfo, who lacks a dependable winger. “My job as the coach is to focus on the players that I have at this moment.”
Tuesday’s practice was Onalfo’s first as Galaxy coach after six seasons as an assistant and coach of Galaxy II, the franchise’s USL development team. And he split the session between technical drills and endurance work.
“The fitness level was excellent,” he said. “A little bit better than I expected.”
As were Pedro’s language skills, although those, like the Galaxy roster, might best be described as a work in progress.
“Speak to me in English,” Pedro playfully admonished a team employee before practice. “I have to learn.”
Follow Kevin Baxter on Twitter @kbaxter11
