LA Galaxy sign defender Séga Coulibaly

The LA Galaxy hit paydirt on another of their rumored transfer targets, announcing on Wednesday they have signed defender Séga Coulibaly from French club AS Nancy. He has been signed to a two-year contract with an additional one-year option.

“Séga is a talented, versatile defender with good experience and we believe he can continue to grow as a player with our club,” said LA Galaxy General Manager Dennis te Kloese in a team statement. “We are confident in his ability to contribute to our defense as we add another player who will compete along our backline. We look forward to Séga joining the club and to his contributions with the LA Galaxy.”

The 24-year-old joins having previously spent his entire pro career in France. Coming through the ranks at noted youth powerhouse Rennes, he featured for their second team starting in 2013 but could not break through with the first team there. Following loan stints at Sedan and Avranches in the French third division, he joined Nancy in 2018, first for their second team and then for the first team, playing in Ligue 2. After a second loan spell to Avranches last season, he finally became a regular for Nancy’s first team this season, making 22 appearances and tallying two goals in the 2nd division. Coulibaly was born in Mali and a French youth international previously.

He’s the third French player signed by the Galaxy first team this year, joining Samuel Grandsir from Monaco and Kevin Cabral from Valenciennes. All three players have slightly different profiles, but in the case of Grandsir and Coulibaly, the Galaxy seem to be going for a risk/reward proposition with two players who haven’t seemed to find their level in the pro game just yet, but LA are banking on them to really impress at MLS level.

Obviously, if Coulibaly makes the grade and can upgrade the defense, then that should help the Galaxy substantially. They may be 2-0-0 to start the season but they’ve allowed four goals so far and that’s not usually sustainable for a truly good team looking for wins. We’ll see if Coulibaly pushes the defense to get better this year.

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