Oniel Fisher right where he wants to be, with LA Galaxy

Oniel Fisher has an MLS Cup win. He’s played in Concacaf Gold Cup action for his country. But he was looking to play for the LA Galaxy.

The veteran defender made his debut for LA in Sunday’s 3-2 season-opening win over Inter Miami, and during a media availability with reporters on Wednesday, said “I always wanted to play for the Galaxy.”

The Jamaican international joined from D.C. United, where he was for three seasons, one of those interrupted with a torn ACL that kept him out the 2019 campaign. But LA head coach Greg Vanney said Fisher was a key pickup ahead of the 2021 season.

“Oniel, he’s just a veteran of this league,” Vanney told reporters. “He knows and understands what playing in MLS is about. He’s a veteran’s kind of savvy defender. He’s two-footed so he can play on the left, he can play on the right, he’ll control the ball with his left, right so there’s something there that’s efficient about what he does but I think that just the best quality he has for us, he’s a great personality in our team and our locker room and he’s confident. He just knows the league. And you need some experienced guys who have played a lot of games in this league, so that they can play roles for you throughout the course of the season and he’ll do so for us as well.”

Fisher was a 2nd round MLS Draft selection by the Seattle Sounders in 2015, and spent a few seasons there before moving on to D.C. United via trade. Out of contract after the 2020 season, Fisher said signing with the Galaxy “was a long process” because he switched agents while he was in the process of negotiations with LA, but is grateful to be at a club he always wanted to play for.

“I mean, I’m grateful for the opportunity and it’s just, you know, it’s just another one to showcase my talent and what I can do,” he said.

Fisher got the start in LA’s Week 1 win, with young right back Julian Araujo serving a red-card suspension. It will be interesting to see how the duo splits the playing time in 2021, but Fisher said the overarching goal this season is to build a tight-knit group.

“I think the guys know what the goal is for this year in our main focus is just to be together as a group and be there for each other, you know, play for each other and fight every minute, every second for each other. And I think we showed that last game, showed the characteristics of each and every one of our players and we have a good proof here, I think all the guys are pretty bought into to whatever the coaches want and whatever the organization is going for so I think we’ll see more moving forward,” he said.

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