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The LA Galaxy announced Friday they have signed goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann to a new contract ahead of the 2021 season.
“Jonathan is a talented player who gained valuable experience with our team last season,” said LA Galaxy General Manager Dennis te Kloese in a team statement. “We are pleased to further strengthen our goalkeeper position and we look forward to his continued growth as an LA Galaxy player.”
Klinsmann, 23, joined the Galaxy in Aug. 2020 after a brief sojourn in Switzerland with St. Gallen. The Southern California native, son of former Germany international and Germany and U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, began his professional career at Hertha Berlin but ultimately couldn’t break through in Europe to get regular minutes.
Down the stretch of the 2020 season, with the Galaxy struggling, Guillermo Barros Schelotto turned to Klinsmann, who ultimately made four appearances for the club, allowing 11 goals in those games.
Klinsmann’s signing makes it the second in two days for LA, joining newcomer Jonathan Bond from West Brom on Thursday. That also takes the goalkeeper corps to four on the first team, joining Justin Vom Steeg and Eric Lopez.
It appears the two Jonathans will compete to be the No. 1 for the Galaxy in 2021, with both players having pretty similar track records. Bond is a bit older, at 27, but neither player has seen a ton of first-team competitive playing time to date, so they remain somewhat unknown quantities, although Klinsmann obviously has some MLS experience at this point.
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