{"id":122098,"date":"2026-01-06T12:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/122098\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T12:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:39:20","slug":"can-the-galaxy-successfully-navigate-another-season-without-riqui-puig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/122098\/","title":{"rendered":"Can the Galaxy successfully navigate another season without Riqui Puig?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Galaxy<\/a> will begin the new season the same way they finished the old one \u2014 with Riqui Puig<\/a> on the sideline after knee surgery. That\u2019s a big problem because Puig is about the closest thing MLS has to an irreplaceable player. And with training camp starting in a couple of weeks, the team has precious little time to try to replace him.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the last time Puig was on the field, he led the league in touches and passes and set career highs for goals (13) and assists (15). With him directing the attack, the Galaxy set a record with four players scoring 10 or more times en route a sixth MLS title. It was one of the best seasons in franchise history.<\/p>\n

In 2025, without Puig, the only records the Galaxy set were for futility<\/a>, starting the season winless in their first 16 league matches and finishing with just seven wins, a franchise low for a full season. No reigning MLS Cup champion has fared so poorly.<\/p>\n

The contrast is so stark because Puig doesn\u2019t just define the way the team plays; he is the way the team plays. He\u2019s the quarterback and the point guard. His speed, dribbling and passing ability make the Galaxy go, opening up space for opportunity for his teammates. He\u2019s the rare player who truly makes everyone around him better.<\/p>\n

Even Lionel Messi<\/a> isn\u2019t as important to his team as Puig is to the Galaxy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game changes when Riqui\u2019s on the field,\u201d coach Greg Vanney<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

Puig first tore the ACL in his left knee in the Western Conference final in 2024, assisting on the game\u2019s only goal after sustaining the injury. The Galaxy originally thought they\u2019d have him back by late summer, in time for a playoff push. So last winter they felt comfortable trading Mark Delgado and Gast\u00f3n Brugman, the two most likely fill-ins for Puig, largely to fit their payroll under the MLS salary cap.<\/p>\n

In the interim, the plan was to make Marco Reus the team\u2019s midfield maestro. But Reus had his own injury problems and didn\u2019t start consecutive MLS games until early May. By then the Galaxy had gone winless through their first 10 matches.<\/p>\n

Reus went on to play well at times, but the season was effectively over by then. There would be no playoff push, so the Galaxy felt no need to rush Puig back.<\/p>\n

This winter the team\u2019s entire offseason preparation was based on Puig\u2019s return \u2014 both on and off the field.<\/p>\n

Off the field, the Galaxy filmed a multi-part documentary called \u201cRiqui Puig\u2019s Road To Recovery\u201d and used his return to hype ticket sales. On the field, believing the midfield to be set, general manager Will Kuntz added two top-tier defenders in Jakob Glesnes and Justin Haak, committing more than $2 million in salary to the pair.<\/p>\n

But then, one day into the new year, Puig and the team learned he needed another operation<\/a> and would have to miss a second season, throwing all of the Galaxy\u2019s plans into the dumpster.<\/p>\n

The Galaxy never blamed their troubles last season on Puig\u2019s absence, but they didn\u2019t have to. It was obvious. And if they couldn\u2019t replace the irreplaceable last season, what confidence should anyone have that they can do it this season?<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s biggest mistake last year was not planning for Puig\u2019s absence. The team entered the winter knowing he\u2019d miss most of the season and didn\u2019t act accordingly. They even kept Puig\u2019s $5.8-million salary and designated-player roster spot on the books in the hopes he\u2019d play at some point.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect them to make the same mistakes this time. Instead, the Galaxy are all but certain to place him on the season-ending injury list, opening up a DP slot and erasing the hit his salary takes on the budget cap.<\/p>\n

The good news, if there is any, is that Vanney believes the Galaxy eventually figured out how to play without Puig last year. After going winless in their first 16 MLS games, the Galaxy went 7-6-5 in league play and finished third in the Leagues Cup, earning a spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the end of the year, we were beating MLS playoff teams and we beat the top teams in Mexico,\u201d Vanney said. \u201cWe found how this group could be successful without the pieces that were missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now they\u2019ll have to do that again.<\/p>\n

What exactly happened with Puig hasn\u2019t been made clear. He was more than a year into his rehab when he returned home to Barcelona for the holidays. Puig had trained alongside the team last fall and he continued training in Spain. The recovery seemed to be going well.<\/p>\n

But something \u2014 a quick move or an uncertain cut \u2014 sent Puig back to the doctor and a day later he underwent a second operation.<\/p>\n

ACL revision surgeries (multiple procedures) are not rare, with some studies suggesting they are needed between 10% to 20% of the time, especially for athletes who play so-called pivoting sports such as soccer. Most commonly, a second surgery is needed because the first graft has re-torn.<\/p>\n

Christen Press<\/a>, a two-time World Cup champion, torn the ligament in her right knee eight games into her first season with Angel City and needed four operations to repair the damage. She started just three more matches over the next 3 \u00bd seasons before retiring.<\/p>\n

But Press was 33 when she was injured. Puig is 26. And though that suggests the odds for a full recovery are high, Puig\u2019s age also adds to the poignancy of the situation since the injury will now take two years off his career when he was at his prime.<\/p>\n

Another season like 2024 could have had Puig, who played 42 games over four seasons for Barcelona, planning for a return to Europe or at least another big payday in MLS. Now he won\u2019t play another game until he\u2019s 27 and in the final year of his contract, when the pressure to prove he\u2019s healthy and still a dynamic game-changing player will be immense.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the Galaxy find themselves once again trying to replace the irreplaceable.<\/p>\n

\u26bd You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week\u2019s episode of the \u201cCorner of the Galaxy\u201d podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Galaxy will begin the new season the same way they finished the old one \u2014 with Riqui…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[6308,11247,423,48,52,51,64048,47,50,49,64049,24246,6843,4495,2699,64047,37447,36523,278,427,72],"class_list":["post-122098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-field","tag-galaxy","tag-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-last-winter","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-marco-reus","tag-more-time","tag-operation","tag-recovery","tag-return","tag-riqui-puig","tag-salary","tag-same-way","tag-season","tag-team","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}