July 15--It took awhile -- nearly four years, to be exact -- but Bruce Arena finally got his man.
The Galaxy's coach and general manager began pursuing Mexican national team star Giovani Dos Santos in 2011. However, the team already had David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, making it impossible to get Dos Santos both on the payroll and under the Major League Soccer salary cap.
Arena tried again when Beckham left, but Dos Santos wasn't ready to leave Europe. And when Donovan retired, the Galaxy signed Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard instead.
But Arena remained patient and Dos Santos remained on the radar, and on Tuesday the long romance was finally consummated, with the Galaxy and Dos Santos signing a 4 1/2-year deal that will keep the player with the team past his 30th birthday.
Financial terms of the deal were not released but one Galaxy official said the transfer fee paid to Dos Santos' former club, Villarreal of Spain's La Liga, was approximately $7 million. Dos Santos had reportedly been seeking a deal similar in annual salary to the $9-million, 18-month contract Gerrard received.
One Galaxy official said flatly that Dos Santos would not make more than Gerrard but another front-office employee with knowledge of the contract would not confirm or deny those figures. At any price, however, the team appeared happy with its purchase.
"This is a player," Galaxy President Chris Klein said, "that is just entering the prime of his career."
And that makes his signing among the most significant in the history of both the team and the league.
Beckham, Keane and Gerrard were all over 30 and had seen better days when they came to MLS. Same with Kaka, the former world player of the year who debuted with Orlando this season at 32.
But Dos Santos, a two-time World Cup player, is just 26. That will make him the third-youngest Galaxy starter when he joins the lineup next month.
And his combination of youth and skill arguably gives his signing more impact than that of Gerrard, the former Liverpool and English national team captain who joined the Galaxy last week and has already been replaced by a new flavor of the day.
Arena said Dos Santos' speed and flash on the wing will complement Keane and give the Galaxy more options in the attacking third of the field. The Galaxy already leads the league with 31 goals in 21 games.
Almost as important for the Galaxy, however, is what Dos Santos will bring the team off the field. Despite playing in a heavily Mexican American community, the Galaxy has never fielded a top-name Mexican star at the height of his career.
In addition, Galaxy officials quietly say the 2018 debut of Southern California's second MLS team, the Los Angeles Football Club, also figured in their thinking. Signing Dos Santos now gives the Galaxy more than two years to build a following in the Latino community before LAFC plays its first game.
"It's going to be a big challenge for him," Arena said of Dos Santos' marketing demands. "He's not been at a club yet where he's had those kind of responsibilities. And he's in a community where he's going to be sought after. So he's going to have to be mature about it. And he's going to have to be disciplined. There's going to be a lot of people trying to get a piece of [him].
"And that's a part off the field we're going to have to be aware of."
The Galaxy was finally able to close the deal with Dos Santos because of new MLS salary guidelines.
Previously, teams were limited to three "designated players," whose contracts count only partially against the league salary cap. The Galaxy's three DP spots are currently occupied by Gerrard, reigning league most valuable player Keane and U.S. national team defender Omar Gonzalez.
But last week the league adopted new rules that essentially allow teams to use special "allocation money" to pay down the salary of a DP, creating a new slot to sign another player at a higher salary. In the Galaxy's case, it gave that money to Gonzalez, who earned $1 million last season. By using its $500,000 in allocation money on his contract, the Galaxy was able to fit it under the salary threshold, allowing the team to sign Dos Santos.
Although Arena didn't need many references before signing Dos Santos, he got a glowing review from Keane, a former teammate at Totttenham of the English Premier League.
"Robbie knows him very well," Arena said. "He loved playing with him."
Arena acknowledged Dos Santos also has his share of detractors. Although no one has ever questioned his skills, many have doubted his commitment, which may be why he's played for seven European clubs in nine years, making more than 30 appearances with just one, Villarreal.
"From talking to him, I think he's a good kid. I know other people say otherwise," Arena said. "You hear that about everybody all the time. That goes along with it."
But those wayward players are the ones Arena has long been most successful with.
"I want him to use this as an opportunity to become a better player. I want the Mexican [national team] manager to have a hard time not putting him in the first 11 for Mexico, either.
"I want to make him a better player."
