Red Bulls making a play for Sacha Kljestan

When the Galaxy traded Marcelo Sarvas to the Colorado Rapids for the third slot in the allocation list, it was widely believed that the Galaxy were clearing the way to bring in Sacha Kljestan. But after the move took place, Galaxy fans waited and waited for the Kljestan signing, dreading that we traded one of our most beloved players for nothing. After a week of waiting, I reached out to Sacha's agent, Richard Motzkin, about the specifics of his current deal with Anderlecht since reports had surfaced that he was being asked to finish out the season in Belgium before any transfer, but received no comment.

Then the bombshell hit. This morning, the New York Red Bulls traded Eric Alexander, Ambroise Oyongo, an international player spot, and allocation money to Montreal in exchange for the top allocation spot. While their motivations are not confirmed, since New York is one of the teams that are reportedly interested in Sacha Kljestan, in all probability, this is a play at signing Kljestan, and a masterful one at that. Now LA is left holding the bag, having traded Marcelo Sarvas, and having in all likelihood, lost the ability to sign Sacha Kljestan.

So what do the Galaxy do now? Well, they have a somewhat valuable allocation spot, a fair amount of allocation cash, and room to sign a somewhat sizable non dp contract. But here are a few things to note. 1. Allocation spots are only valuable when there are players coming through the pipeline. No one cares about allocation spots until there is a clear target returning from over seas, and at this time, there doesn't appear to be one after  Kljestan. That significantly hurts the trade value. 2. The current CBA talks will, in all likelihood, make it hard for the Galaxy to go out and acquire foreign talent. "Hey, do you want to come play for us? We have no idea when your first paycheck will be as there is a very real possibility of strike. Wait, where are you going?"

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this whole mess is that the Galaxy still have Omar Gonzalez taking up a DP slot. Now that's the sort of thing that is fine when you have a Landon Donovan on your team, or if you have Sacha Kljestan on a non dp contract, but at this point, it's becoming harder and harder to justify wasting a dp spot on a defender who many would argue, including myself, isn't even the best defender on our team.

If the Galaxy can not find a suitable back up, and fast, they risk starting the season with an offensively toothless midfield with almost zero real options at left mid: Help us Bradford Jamieson IV, you're our only hope.  Maybe an ex-USMNT player will swoop in and save the day (Freddy Adu anyone? Anyone?), and all this blustering will have been for not, but until that happens, or until the Galaxy find a suitable player on the international market, the prospects for next season just got a whole lot darker: