The Los Angeles Galaxy have officially signed former Colombian International Juan Pablo Angel. The team selected Angel in the first round of the MLS Re-Entry draft over a month ago. They selected him in hopes of teaming him with Edson Buddle to form an amazing forward tandem. However, Buddle has left for Germany in the interim period, making signing Angel even more of a necessity.
Angel is a very technical striker. He has great control of the ball when it is at his feet, and will be able to combine with the Galaxy midfielders to create opportunities. The question will be whether he can replicate Buddle’s success on balls in the air. The Galaxy were very potent on set pieces last season based on the service they received from Beckham and Donovan throughout the year. Buddle and Omar Gonzalez were the top two targets, but they will not be as feared if they only have one target man in the box. Angel has had some success, but the majority of his goals are scored on the ground.
Angel signed a contract that will make him the Galaxy’s third Designated Player. There was some speculation that the Galaxy would try to reduce Angel’s salary from last season, but that was while they were still working out a contract with Buddle. When Buddle left the club, that opened up salary cap space for Angel. It also opened up a need for them to get the deal done with the player. Angel has played in MLS for four seasons, all with the New York Red Bulls. He scored 58 goals in those four years, an average of 14.5 goals per season. He brings consistency and a great technical ability. He was brought to the Red Bulls by Bruce Arena, and has experience in Arena’s system. The 35-year-old has 33 national team caps for Colombia, notching 9 goals on the national level. Prior to playing for the Red Bulls, Angel was a regular for Aston Villa of the English Premier League.
Juan Pablo Angel is a top forward who should be an important part of the Galaxy attack next season. His strength is to play on the ground, while the Galaxy played through the air the majority of the time last season. If Angel is to have success the Galaxy will have to be a more passing oriented team. The attack should be less reliant on getting the ball to Beckham and having him pump long balls forward into the box. There will be a limit on how successful that might be this season, although Angel can win balls in the air. He is much better at getting himself to the right places on the field and finding openings that allow him opportunities to score. The team should play on the ground with Angel, Donovan, Juninho, as well as recent Uruguayan draftee Paolo Cardozo all having the requisite skill to string passes together, and create openings. Additionally, Angel is a great free-kick taker. He is not quite on par with Beckham, but has a hard dipping shot that gives keepers nightmares.
The signing of Angel has been expected for some time, and it is good that it has happened in time for pre-season camp. Hopefully Beckham will be back from his training stint and the team can come out of the gates as fast as they did last season, when their fast start held up after a fade down the stretch but allowed the team to win the Supporter’s Shield.
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