After months of friction between Lee Nguyen and the New England Revolution, the attacking midfielder finally landed with LAFC just before the primary transfer window closed.
Nguyen requested a trade from the Revs during the offseason, and he arrived three weeks late to preseason camp. The move seemed to backfire on Nguyen, who was sidelined for the Rev’s first eight matches. Revs coach attributed Nguyen’s exclusion to fitness in the week leading up to the season opener.
New England general manager Mike Burns told MLSsoccer.com that several teams, including LAFC, expressed interest in trading for Nguyen, but the Revs generally refuse to enter trade talks during a player holdout.
In the end, New England sent Nguyen to LAFC for $70,000 in allocation money (half TAM and half GAM) plus conditional add-ons.
“That whole two months, I was just training, knowing that there were no plans for me with Brad,” Nguyen told MLSsoccer.com on Thursday. “It was evident. Not knowing if this was going to be the rest of the year like this, it was a tough moment mentally, but the news came as a surprise, a good surprise.”
Nguyen made his first appearance of the season Saturday, playing 16 minutes off the bench in a 1-1 draw between LAFC and FC Dallas.
Other transfer deadline moves
Minnesota United and the Colorado Rapids completed a trade just before the transfer deadline Tuesday, sending Scottish winger Sam Nicholson and an international roster spot to Colorado for 2017 Rapids defensive player of the year Eric Miller and $50,000 in GAM.
Both players started for their new respective teams over the weekend.
LAFC, in addition to trading for Nguyen, added to its attack by signing Norwegian forward Adama Diomande from Hull City. Diomande played under LAFC coach Bob Bradley in 2015 when the two were at Norwegian club Stabaek IF.
Timbers player injured in goal celebration
Fans of many teams in many sports have gone through that head-shaking experience of watching a player go down with an injury after celebrating a little too enthusiastically. But Zarek Valentin found out Saturday that even a hug can be dangerous.
After Diego Valeri scored on a game-winning free kick in Portland’s 1-0 victory over San Jose, Valentin ran over to embrace him. But Valentin ended up on the ground when Andrés Flores jumped on his back in the celebration huddle. Valentin banged heads with another player and came away with a slight black eye and split eyebrow.
Power Rankings
1. Atlanta United (last week: 1) • Ezequiel Barco scored his first MLS goal in an Atlanta victory over Chicago.
2. New York Red Bulls (3) • RBNY claimed ownership of New York with a rout of NYCFC in the NY Derby.
3. Sporting Kansas City (5) • In a match with 33 fouls and four yellow cards, SKC battled out its sixth win of the season.
4. New York City FC (2) • NYCFC laid down and let the Red Bulls walk over them as four different RBNY players netted goals against their New York rival.
5. Orlando City SC (8) • Orlando City SC set a new club winning streak record, claiming its sixth straight victory thanks to three second-half goals against Real Salt Lake.
6. Los Angeles FC (4) • Lee Nguyen showed promise in a draw with FC Dallas, but ultimately LAFC failed to finish an abundance of chances.
7. Columbus Crew SC (6) • Getting a result at Seattle, especially with 10 men is usually very hard, but the Sounders have started this season poorly.
8. Toronto FC (7) • With CCL play behind it, Toronto claimed its second win of the season in a dominant performance.
9. FC Dallas (9) • Dallas forced a draw at formidable Banc of California Stadium.
10. Portland Timbers (unranked) • The Timbers claimed their third straight win on the back of a Diego Valeri free kick.