Stejskal: LA Galaxy have “serious interest” in Dennis te Kloese

Yesterday LA Galaxy President Chris Klein confirmed the club have spoken with a number of domestic and international candidates for the VP of Soccer Operations job, and today a name has emerged: Dennis te Kloese.

Multiple sources have revealed to Sam Stejskal that the Galaxy have “serious interest” in hiring the Mexico national team director to lead the club. A prominent name in youth development, you may remember te Kloese as the director of soccer for Chivas USA and the man responsible for recruiting Jonathan Gonzalez to El Tri. These same sources also confirmed Bruce Arena has spoken with the club but add it is unlikely he is given the position.

Te Kloese is currently the director of Mexico’s national teams, a role he’s held since last August. He oversees all administrative aspects of the men’s and women’s national teams from the senior sides down through the Under-15s. Prior to being promoted to his current role, te Kloese served as director of Mexico’s youth national teams during a period in which the country won the men’s gold medal at the 2012 Olympics and twice reached the semifinals of the U-17 World Cup.

A native of the Netherlands and a Dutch youth international at the U-17 and U-20 levels, te Kloese moved to Mexico in 2003 when he was named scouting director of Chivas de Guadalajara. He served as director of soccer for now-defunct MLS side Chivas USA – at the time Guadalajara’s sister club – from 2005-08, then returned to Mexico to work as academy director of Tigres from 2008-11. He moved to the Mexican federation in 2011, spent most of 2013 as sporting president of Chivas de Guadalajara and Chivas USA, then returned to the FMF in February 2014.