Editorial (January 11, 2019) – The first two rounds of the 2019 MLS SuperDraft have come and gone. The LA Galaxy made two selections under the new regime of Dennis te Kloese and Guillermo Barros Schelotto. Let’s recap the Galaxy draft day that was.
LA Galaxy Draft Day: Depth options for Los Dos
Going into the day, the Galaxy had six draft picks, but just two in the first two rounds, 19th and 36th overall. The Galaxy chose to select midfielder Emil Cuello and forward Don Tchilao, from Southern Methodist University and Oregon State, respectively.
The Galaxy are already stacked at every midfield position. Juninho has returned to the club. They already have Jonathan dos Santos and Sebastian Lletget, who will undoubtedly be starters. The club recently re-signed Emmanuel Boateng and Chris Pontius. Romain Alessandrini is, for now at least, still with the team as well.
Likewise, they are stacked at the forward position. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ola Kamara will start nearly every game if healthy and not suspended. Pontius and Boateng can play at forward as well. Then there’s homegrown Bradford Jamieson IV.
Both of these players are looking at uphill battles just to get signed by the team and end up on the first team roster. Given the Galaxy didn’t have a top 10 pick and Cuello and Tchilao fell down the draft board.
Look for these two to try and impress the coaching staff enough to earn a contract or get picked up by LA Galaxy II. There is precedent that the Galaxy could have Los Dos sign them to a USL contract (and thus not take up an MLS roster spot or any of the Galaxy’s first team budget). The Galaxy can do this and still hang onto the MLS rights of these players, thus allowing them to develop in the USL to potentially move up to MLS after that.
