Major League Soccer

LA Galaxy wants Douglas Costa to compete with Javier Hernandez for position

His team in Brazil, Gremio, was relegated and he is now looking to relaunch his career. 

By Wilian Estrella

13/01/2022, 08:17 PM

His team in Brazil, Gremio, was relegated and he is now looking to relaunch his career. 

Sources close to the club claim that the LA Galaxy want Douglas Costa to compete with Javier Hernandez for his spot for MLS 2022, taking advantage of the Brazilian's desire to leave his club.

The player had a great career in European soccer, where he played for Juventus and Bayern Munich, before returning to Brazilian soccer to play for Gremio.

However, unfortunately for the player, last December Gremio de Porto Alegre was relegated for the third time in its history and will now play in Brazil's second division

Due to this context, the player is looking for a way out, and apparently, he has entered the radar of LA Galaxy, a team that according to North American media, wants him to compete with "Chicharito"

Douglas Costa's chances of joining LA Galaxy

The LA Galaxy has been paying close attention to the player's contract situation since they recently released a franchise player quota at the end of 2021 after Jonathan dos Santos' departure to America.

Thus, the team could use this international player slot to bring the Brazilian to play in Major League Soccer

What the Los Angeles club is very clear about is that they will only be willing to negotiate with the Brazilian if they can get Gremio to terminate his contract

In this way, they could bring him to the club so that the player could compete with Javier Hernandez for the same position and coach Greg Vanney could have two options to choose from

And this option has gained strength as critics of the team have pointed out that "Chicharito" is too comfortable in his position, so he is no longer competing at his best level to be lined up. 

So Vanney could give the team an extra boost if he can get Costa to become a Galaxian.

Competition between "Chicharito" and Douglas Costa would be best for the team

It is a fact that Javier Hernandez is one of the LA Galaxy's best players and his numbers do not lie about his performance and commitment to the team. 

"Chicharito" scored 17 goals in the 2021 Major League Soccer season, which is a good number for the league, but the LA Galaxy expects much more from the Mexican.

However, injuries have prevented the Mexican player from playing a more prominent role in the past tournament

This also inevitably affected the team as they were without their leading scorer. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to think that Vanney needs another player who can compete and eventually replace Hernández Balcázar. 

Douglas Costa played in the 2021 Brazilian Serie A season 20 games (plus 6 as a substitute) and has made 15 shots on goal out of a total of 29 shots, and scored 3 goals.

According to a statistical analysis conducted by Infogol.net, Costa managed to generate an average of 31 passes per game. In addition, his pass completion rate is 84%

This means that in addition to being an attacking midfielder, he can also contribute to transferring the ball without losing possession

So definitely the competition between the two players would bring the team a better performance and consequently, a better performance in the tournament

The LA Galaxy finished in eighth place in the Eastern Conference last season, so they are desperate to regain the prominence they once had. 

That is why Douglas Costa could be a transfer that could help them regain that role in the league. 

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