Al-Hilal eyeing Denis Bouanga as Neymar’s replacement

2024 has begun for LAFC, who recently announced the incorporation of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. The 37-year-old - a World Cup winner with France in 2018, signed a one-year deal with the option of a further two seasons after spending over a decade at Spurs. The move is a clear statement of intent as Los Angeles prepare for a new assault on the title to make up for the disappointment of last month, when the Columbus Crew ended their dream of back-to-back titles.

Steve Cherundolo’s squad could face significant losses, with talk that team captain Carlos Vela could return to Europe after his contract with the Black & Gold expired on 1 January.

On top of that, Denis Bouanga, the 2023 MLS Golden Boot winner, has been attracting attention from other clubs - including Tigres in Mexico’s Liga MX, French Ligue 1 outfit OGC Nice and now he is being probed by Saudi football... According to newspaper le10sport, Al-Hilal have the 29-year-old Gabonese forward in mind.

Bouanga reported to prefer Saudi move

The same newspaper reports that Bouanga would prefer to join Al-Hilal over returning to Ligue 1 or starting out anew in Mexican football. LAFC value him at a figure close to $16.4 million (approximately 15 million euros), an amount that, as we saw in the last transfer market, would not be a huge problem at all for any of the Saudi Arabian clubs.

It will be interesting to see what happens with LAFC in the coming weeks and how they would respond if some of their key players decide to move on. Because filling the void that Carlos Vela and Denis Bouanga would leave will not be simple.

Palacios returns home

Elsewhere, the franchise announced that Brazilian left-back Diego Palacios has returned to his homeland, joining Corinthians on a free transfer. Palacios brings to an end his three-year spell in LA, during which he made a total of 50 appearances - 45 of them in MLS.