LA Galaxy Trade Paolo Cardozo For Chivas USA's Junior Lopes

Today the LA Galaxy acquired another Brazilian player, trading Uruguayan midfielder Paolo Carozo to Chivas USA for defender Junior Lopes. Lopes longest stint has been with NK Osijek, a Croatian football club, where he was for two seasons. He signed on with Chivas USA late in 2011, his first in MLS, making eight appearances. Five of his first six appearances after joining Chivas were starts (source:Adam Serrano), and went on to start in seven of his eight appearances.

Lopes has been added to the Galaxy roster and is available for selection Saturday night against the Portland Timbers. For those less familiar with MLS processes, because it's a single entity structure, FIFA doesn't get in a tiff about trades outside the transfer window. MLS does have it's own trade deadline for inter-MLS trades, later in the year.

So far this MLS season, Lopes has not made a first team appearance. Paolo Cardozo, the Galaxy's first round pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft, has made a first team appearance, but in 18 LA Galaxy appearances Cardozo never scored a goal.

The Galaxy are in need of defensive depth, as neither Tommy Meyer or Andrew Boyens has looked especially game worthy. Not to mention Sean Franklin desperately needs a rest and isn't playing at 100%. Meanwhile, Cardozo isn't a huge loss and what he did with the Galaxy is something Chivas actually need, whereas it's sort of overkill on the Galaxy.

What do you think about this trade? Do you think the Galaxy got fleeced? Or has Bruce Arena earned your undying trust?