LA Galaxy: Much work for Guillermo Barros Schelotto to sign Ignacio Fernandez
Guillermo Barros Schelotto is reportedly interested in former rival, River Plate midfielder, Ignacio Fernandez. To secure his signature, however, the LA Galaxy head coach has a whole lot of work to do.
Guillermo Barros Schelotto really was a coup for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Looking to revitalise an ageing, stagnating roster and refreshen a club that’s culture and processes had been eroded and deemed unsuccessful, Schelotto was the type of character that could provide such an injection.
Not all head coaches are built in a manner that could deal with the pressure and the poison of the LA Galaxy head coaching job. But Schelotto is one of them. He brings that self-belief, that swagger, that absorbing, exhilarating character.
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And Schelotto, in his first offseason at the helm, is beginning to reshape a squad that is not only expensive but old and in desperate need of investment. The Galaxy do have a busy roster and have wage pressure to abide by, but that has not stopped Schelotto scouring South America for talent that he believes can help him and his team.
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One of the names that he has uncovered is Ignacio Fernandez. A creative midfielder with a lovely delivery, nuanced ability on the ball and eye for goal — he scored nine goals in the 2014/15 season. According to reports, Schelotto is keen to bring Fernandez to Los Angeles to provide Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a little support from midfield and fill the team with another attacking option.
There is, however, one major problem. Fernandez currently plays for River Plate. Schelotto is the former coach of Boca Juniors, River’s hated rivals who Fernandez beat in the final of the Copa Libertadores last season — the final was delayed on several occasions and almost cancelled altogether thanks to fan violence, players being attacked, and a lack of safety for everyone at the stadium.
River are highly unlikely to sell to a former manager of Boca Juniors, even if he is now at a different club in a different league. That may seem alien to many, but this rivalry is more heated and hate-filled than any other in league football. Grudges do not pass over quickly and the distaste for the other and any related to the other runs deep. Schelotto and Fernandez are opposite sides of the divide.
That is not the only problem either. The Galaxy already have seven internationally designated players on the roster. After re-signing Zlatan to a new deal, he is now classed as a Designated Player, joining the dos Santos brothers and Romain Alessandrini. There have been suggestions that Alessandrini could be bought down and thereby not class as a DP, but that would still leave the Galaxy with their maximum number of allocated DPs and little salary cap space to work with.
Schelotto, then, is trying to sign an expensive player who plays for a direct and hated rival of his former club with not much cash or roster flexibility to play with. Suddenly, it is looking as though any move is dead in the water before it has even begun.
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It remains to be seen how all this will play out. But the Galaxy have some roster restructuring to do and Schelotto wants Fernandez to be a part of that. Whether he will be, however, is a very different question altogether.