LA Galaxy sign goalkeeper Jonathan Bond

Another transfer rumor involving the LA Galaxy was confirmed this week, with the club officially announcing the signing of goalkeeper Jonathan Bond on Thursday.

No details were included in the release on the signing, but Bond departs after a stint as a backup at Premier League side West Bromwich Albion.

“Jonathan is a quality goalkeeper with experience playing at a high level,” said LA Galaxy General Manager Dennis te Kloese in a team statement. “He is a talented player and we believe he can make an impact with our team as we strengthen our goalkeeper position. We look forward to Jonathan joining the squad and his contributions this season.”

The 27-year-old joins LA after a career spent in England. Coming through the Watford system, he made his debut with the Hornets. After loan spells with Brackley Town, Forest Green Rovers, Dagenham & Redbridge and Bury, he moved to Reading in 2015, taking loan stints at Gillingham and Peterborough United. In 2018, he moved to West Brom, featuring in several cup games for the Baggies. The bulk of Bond’s playing time came with Peterborough United in 2017-18 in the English third tier.

Bond is a former Welsh and English youth international, but he has an American passport as well and therefore will not occupy an international slot, making this signing much more logical from LA’s perspective.

This is certainly an intriguing signing, because Bond is pretty much an unknown quantity, even to most English soccer fans. He really has not played much in his career at first team level, but only one goalkeeper can play at a time, maybe he really hasn’t gotten the chance he deserves.

Per Kevin Baxter, the thinking is that Bond and Jonathan Klinsmann are expected to battle for the No. 1 in 2021, with the club expected to move on from incumbent starter David Bingham. That adds some clarity to the goalkeeper situation, while also indicating that there’s still no anointed starter and the top contenders will have to prove they belong between the posts.

So we’ll see how it goes for Bond in MLS. Be sure to put all your James Bond jokes below, let’s get them out of our system.

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