Reports: LA Galaxy signing GK Jonathan Klinsmann

Multiple reports dropped on Wednesday indicating the LA Galaxy are set to sign goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann on a free transfer.

The signing is not official, but was reported by both The Athletic’s Sam Stejskal and Paul Tenorio and the LA Times’ Kevin Baxter, so it looks as close to done as it gets.

The 23-year-old grew up in Orange County so this is a return home, after beginning his pro career at German club Hertha Berlin in 2017 and moving to Swiss club St. Gallen this season. While he’s played in the reserves for Hertha, he’s yet to make his first-team debut as a professional in his career, although at 23 he’s still pretty young for a goalkeeper.

If the name is familiar, of course that’s because Klinsmann’s father is Jurgen Klinsmann, who won the World Cup with West Germany and has served as the head coach of Germany, Bayern Munich, the U.S. Men’s National Team and most recently, Hertha Berlin.

I must admit that barring injury, this move is rather puzzling on the surface. David Bingham is the current starter for LA, and while some would call for a new reinforcement at goalkeeper, I don’t know if Klinsmann is at the level to push Bingham for his spot, considering he’s never played first-team pro soccer before. Aside from Bingham, the Galaxy have another 23-year-old, Justin Vom Steeg, as the backup, and 21-year-old Eric Lopez, a homegrown signing, as the third-string goalkeeper. Again, unless Vom Steeg or Lopez are injured or moving on soon, I’m not sure I get the desire to add another backup GK of around the same age, unless the Galaxy brass believe Klinsmann can really push Bingham.

We’ll see. Again, this is not a done deal but the reports are reputable enough that it appears to be a matter of time. We’ll fill in the updates as we hear them.

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