Injury to LA Galaxy star keeps him out 6-8 weeks | OneFootball

As the Los Angeles Galaxy have reshaped their roster to accommodate salary cap and future budgeting, the team is also without star midfielder Riqui Puig. He suffered a torn ACL during the MLS Western Conference Finals last season.

One of Puig's teammates is also hurt. Recently, Joseph Paintsil has been ruled out 6-8 months with a quad injury. In a presser last month, Paintsil already indicated the team's awareness that they are the target of the remaining 29 teams in the league.

Last year, the Los Angeles Galaxy set many records. They not only appeared in a tenth MLS Cup Finals but they also won a league record sixth in Decemeber.

Another record this squad set was becoming the first team to have four teammates score ten goals or more in the same season. The previous record was held by the Galaxy in 1998 when three teammates accomplished this feat.

Dejan Joveljic, Riqui Puig, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil all scored at least ten times during the regular season in 2024. Joveljic has been traded to Sporting KC, Puig is still out and Paintsil now joins him.

That leaves Pec as the only remaining player from the record-setting quartet. He scored the team's only goal in the 1-1 draw against Austin FC last week during the Coachella Valley Invitational.

What the LA Galaxy are missing without Paintsil?

The Accra, Ghana native just turned 27 this month. Paintsil played in 29 regular season matches for the LA Galaxy. He started in all of them but one.

In over 2,300 minutes of play on the field, the forward racked up ten goals and ten assists. His passing accuracy percentage was 84% during the regular season.

Paintsil became even sharper during the playoffs. His percentage increased to 90% over the course of five postseason matches. He scored four times and recorded an assist during those five games.

With the absence of Puig and Joveljic, the workload and pressure shifted to Pec and Paintsil. Now that Paintsil is also slated to miss time the next 6-8 weeks, Pec will need help.

The signing of Christian Ramirez to replace Joveljic becomes even more vital. The team also lost Gaston Brugman, Marky Delgado and Jalen Neal all to seperate trades made earlier this winter.

Ruben Ramos, Jr and Marco Reus will become a heavily valued part of the offense. Ramos Jr. was credited with the assist on Pec's goal against Austin FC.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Galaxy will be playing their second game in a row without Paintsil. They will have to get used to that for some time if they look to recreate the type of offense that produced 69 goals during the 2024 regular season and a record 18 goals during last year's postseason.

Paintsil will be missed. However, general manager Will Kuntz has made enough aggressive moves and deals to withstand this setback.

The Los Angeles Galaxy concludes their preseason on Saturday against the Chicago Fire. Then, eight days later (Sunday, February 23) they will open up the 30th MLS regular season at home against San Diego FC.