LA Galaxy sign French midfielder Samuel Grandsir

The LA Galaxy announced Thursday they have signed midfielder Samuel Grandsir with Targeted Allocation Money, on a three-year deal with an additional year option.

The 24-year-old joins from Ligue 1 power AS Monaco, where he had been under contract since 2018. The club did not indicate whether Grandsir joins on a free transfer, but it appears he has.

“Samuel is an attack-minded, talented player who will strengthen our roster,” said LA Galaxy General Manager Dennis te Kloese in a team statement. “He has demonstrated to be an outstanding and talented player in a very respected and competitive league. We are confident he will show his potential and are excited to watch him grow even more and have him become an important part of our roster. We look forward to him joining our squad and integrating Samuel to the team.”

Grandsir made his professional debut in Troyes’ set-up, playing for their reserve team starting in the 2013-14 season, before making his debut with the first team in Ligue 1 in 2015-16. He played in both Ligue 2 and Ligue 1 over the next two seasons for the club, as a regular, before getting the big move to Monaco for the 2018-19 season.

But Grandsir did not find regular playing time for the Monegasque outfit, and went on loan, to fellow Ligue 1 sides Strasbourg in 2019 and Brest last season. He was a regular at Brest, scoring three goals before the season ended due to the COVID pandemic.

Grandsir isn’t a prolific scorer, although he has scored in UEFA Champions League play for Monaco. I think the expectation for the Galaxy is that he can bump up his scoring rate a bit and also help make the attack more fluid overall, something they struggled badly with in 2020.

This seems a bit of a high-risk, high-reward signing, for a player with a solid pedigree but who wasn’t quite at the level for one of the bigger clubs in Europe. If he can settle in MLS and be productive, then he seems like one of the building block players Greg Vanney said LA were looking for heading into the season. He’ll definitely be a player to watch.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.