Riqui Puig leaving Barcelona is not an enormous shock. A move to MLS with the LA Galaxy, though? That’s major news.
One of Barca’s top young prospects is swapping the Mediterranean coast for the Pacific, signing with the Galaxy as the MLS transfer window comes to a close.
Surprisingly, the LA Times is reporting that Puig is joining the Galaxy on a free transfer. The Galaxy did not note terms of the deal beyond saying that Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) was involved. Per reports from Fabrizio Romano, Barcelona retained a percentage of any future transfer fee the Galaxy get if they move Puig on sometime in the future.
Puig, 22, has 57 appearances for Barca across all competitions since making his senior team debut in December 2018. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, Puig has been a full-time member of the Barcelona squad, putting together 29 league appearances and scoring twice.
While MLS clubs have signed players from the world’s biggest clubs, it’s virtually unheard of for a player at this age who is regularly in uniform for a club like Barcelona to move to MLS, especially when the move involves a transfer fee. Puig made Xavi’s gameday squad in all 38 of Barca’s league matches in 2021-22, and appeared in each of their final four games of the season.
While Barcelona’s much-publicized financial problems may play a part here, it still seems like a move that shifts the terrain within MLS. Even the league’s most ambitious clubs have only just started to recruit players from Europe’s giants before they turn 30, with Toronto FC’s double swoop for Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi at the cutting edge.
Puig would figure to be the centerpiece for a Galaxy midfield that seems to be undergoing a major overhaul. Just this year, LA has traded for Mark Delgado, and only just signed Uruguayan ballwinner Gastón Brugman earlier in this transfer window. Rayan Raveloson, who joined the Galaxy in 2021, has played more minutes than any other field player on the team this season.
Greg Vanney’s side currently sit in ninth place, two points behind the Seattle Sounders for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
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