LAFC’s season opener is less than a month away, yet the team opened training camp this week with just 16 players under contract.
“You only need 11,” one team executive said.
Although that’s true, general manager John Thorrington said Thursday he’s making progress on filling the 14 vacant roster spots just the same.
“Nobody [more] than me would love to have the full roster right now,” he said. “I wish it was done. But there are reasons for it. It’s not because we’re not working.”
Those reasons, Thorrington said, include the shortest offseason in club history following a 2023 season that was the most arduous in league history. LAFC played 53 games last year, reaching the finals of the CONCACAF Champions League and MLS Cup. No other MLS team this century has played in both finals in the same season.
Read more: LAFC lands World Cup veteran goalkeeper Hugo Lloris at bargain price
That left Thorrington just six weeks to rebuild a team that lost 18 players — including five starters from the MLS final — to free agency, loans, transfers or expired contracts. Among those who won’t be back are defenders Giorgio Chiellini and Diego Palacios, goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and John McCarthy, midfielder Kellyn Acosta and forward Stipe Biuk, who was loaned Thursday to Spanish club Real Valladolid.
Returning, after some uncertainty, is forward Denis Bouanga, the league’s leading scorer in 2023. The club remains in talks with captain Carlos Vela and is hopeful of re-signing him as a free agent. In addition, LAFC added World Cup champion goalkeeper Hugo Lloris last month and has welcomed back center back Eddie Segura, who missed the last season and a half after tearing the ACL in his right knee.
Thorrington said he’s still waiting for Lloris and Bouanga to arrive from Europe but expects to have both players in camp by the end of the month. Beyond that, he said, there was nothing to announce.
Yet.
“The heavy lifting has been done, the announcements are to come,” he said. “From the outside, people can’t see what’s around the corner. I can and our staff can. And we’re really excited.”
Thorrington said the team needs a left back to replace Palacios, would like to add some depth in the midfield and is “having advanced discussions with some…