While news of Edson Buddle’s return dominated the storylines, Bruce Arena made another very shrewd move by landing Kyle Nakazawa and Philly’s 2013 second round Superdraft pick in exchange for an International Roster spot.
Kyle Nakazawa is a former UCLA player who was teammates with Brian Perk and Michael Stephens. Nakazawa is an attacking midfield prospect who is known for his excellent free kicks. He is very skilled with the ball at his feet and could make a contribution for the Galaxy this season. Obviously, they have a pretty talented free kick taker already in David Beckham, but he gives the Galaxy a different look in Central Midfield then they would get with Stephens, McCarty, Keat or Sarvas who are all more holding midfielders, or box to box midfielders. None of those guys are known for their creativity, something Nakazawa is good at.
Nakazawa played internationally for the United States at the U-17 World Cup and was a member of the U-20 team as well. He played for the Galaxy’s U-20 squad as well before moving on to UCLA. The Torrance native was the 33rd overall selection in the 2010 MLS Superdraft. He registered one goal and three assists last season for the Philadelphia Union.
This move has a couple of other implications for the Galaxy, as every MLS team is allowed eight international roster slots per season. The Galaxy just traded one, so they can only have seven international players for this upcoming season, but they get the slot back for the 2013 season. The Galaxy had to waive Yuri Gorentzvaig from camp because he was the eighth international player on the roster. Gorentzvaig was the Galaxy’s third round selection in the MLS Supplemental draft but had been slowed by a heel injury.
The team now has seven international players on the roster: David Beckham (England), Robbie Keane (Ireland), Paolo Cardozo (Uruguay), Marcelo Sarvas (Brazil), Leonardo (Brazil), Dan Keat (New Zealand), and Andrew Boyens (New Zealand). Boyens was picked in the MLS re-entry draft by the team and just recently signed a deal with the club. This means the door is now shut to bringing back Chris Birchall unless the team acquires an international slot from another MLS club. It also means they will not be bringing in an international central defender to help make up for the loss of Omar Gonzalez. This has been rumored, but now does not seem to be a possibility anymore. Clearly, Bruce Arena felt comfortable with Andrew Boyens, Leonardo, and rookie Tommy Meyer competing for the starting center back spot next to A.J. De La Garza.
Kyle Nakazawa could be an interesting change of pace option for the club in midfield and the second round pick could be valuable as it is unclear exactly what the Philadelphia Union are doing this offseason. They traded away their captain and leading scorer Sebastian Le Toux, and released Faryd Mondragon who was an all-star this past season. They currently have seven international players on their roster. They are rumored to be on the verge of signing another international player but would still have a spot open after that move.
This was a good move by the Galaxy because they add a young attacking prospect, and a good draft pick in exchange for a roster spot they were not going to be using. The move does hamper their flexibility for this season, but was still a smart move by Arena.
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