LA Galaxy acquire Uruguayan midfielder Gastón Brugman

The LA Galaxy announced on Wednesday they have acquired midfielder Gastón Brugman on a transfer from Italian club Parma, and will sign him to a contract that will run through the 2025 season, with a club option for 2026.

We are pleased to welcome Gastón to the LA Galaxy,” said LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney in a team statement. “Gastón is an excellent player and focused professional. He will add balance, experience and leadership to our midfield.”

The 29-year-old is a native of Uruguay, moving to Italy before turning pro to join Empoli’s vaunted youth system. He’s spent his entire career, until last season, in Italy, playing in both Serie B and Serie A. After turning pro with Empoli in 2011, he moved to Pescara in 2012, and spent the most time there, making over 150 appearances from 2012-20. He also had several stints on loan while at Pescara, featuring for Grosseto (2013), Palermo (2015-16), and Parma (2019-20). In 2020, he moved to Parma on a permanent deal after his loan stint, and spent another season there until moving to Spain last season to play for Segunda Division side Real Oviedo.

A former Uruguayan youth international, Brugman is a defensive midfielder, and while he can chip in with the occasional goal — he has 26 goals in 303 first team club games — he appears to fit the profile Vanney targeted when he has discussed the team’s transfer needs in the summer window. Vanney spoke about wanting to give starting midfielders Rayan Raveloson and Mark Delgado more license in the attack, and with Raveloson pushed up late in Monday’s match against CF Montreal, the Malagasy international scored a brace in a 4-0 win.

The Galaxy appear to either really believe in Brugman, or they gave him a pretty long contract to amortize his transfer fee, although I can’t imagine the actual fee was very big by recent MLS transfer standards. He’s got plenty of experience in a tough position for a lot of clubs where he wasn’t a frontrunner, bouncing back and forth between the top flight and second division, but hopefully he takes to MLS and the Galaxy in short order.

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