LA Galaxy sign Giancarlo González from Orlando City
The 31-year-old defender returns to the MLS after almost five years playing in Italy with Palermo for his second spell in the US top-flight.
The LA Galaxy announced the signing of center back Giancarlo González after the club sent $400,000 in Targeted Allocation Money to Orlando City in order to move up to the second spot in the allocation order from No. 11 and sent a 2020 first round SuperDraft pick to Toronto FC to swap from second to first place.
Defender González spent five years playing in Italy, where he first joined Palermo in 2014 after an outstanding World Cup campaign with Costa Rica, to later move to Bologna in 2017. Gonzáles played around 130 games in Serie A but has played only 992 minutes so far this season.
The 31-year-old player is expected to partner Diego Polenta to firm up the Galaxy's center defense under coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto. LA team GM Dennis te Klose said in a statement: "Giancarlo is a very experienced and talented central defender that will strengthen our backline, besides being familiar with the league and has played at the highest levels across the world. We're excited to have him in our roster."
MLS second stage
Giancarlo González arrived at Columbus Crew in February 2014, where he stayed for six months and played 17 games before signing with Palermo. Due to this, he was placed on the Allocation list in the event that he would re-enter the MLS in the future.
With the signing of Giancarlo, LA Galaxy head to the bottom of the list order and Toronto FC went back to number 1.