CARSON, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy have made a huge splash in bringing on Steven Gerrard, and soon, Giovani Dos Santos. But their most valuable acquisition this season, at least so far, has been an American midfielder who had slipped under the radar while overseas.
Sebastian Lletget had an immediate impact with the defending MLS Cup champions from his first start in mid-June, bringing a needed dimension to a floundering Galaxy attack, and scoring six goals in nine competitive appearances. Lletget, age 22, arrived in May after six years with, and just one first-team competitive match for, London's West Ham United, and it feels a little bit like he's gotten out of prison.
“It's a funny phrase, but it actually did feel that way,” said the Bay Area native, ahead of Saturday night's Western Conference clash at Houston. “It's like my career was on a stand-still for so long, and I knew what I could do, and I'm just thankful for this club to give me this opportunity.”
Lletget, who has emerged as LA's first-choice left-sided midfielder, brings a keen attacking acumen and a high soccer IQ that enabled him to find immediate chemistry with Robbie Keane and company, leading to the offensive explosion that followed.
“He's good on the ball, he's very clever, and he scores goals,” said Keane, who captains the Galaxy (9-6-7). “The hardest thing in football is to score goals, and he's doing it, and he's doing it with a lot of confidence. The way we like to play, he's not a typical left-winger. He comes inside a lot, comes off the line and makes it hard for defenders, because they don't know if he's going to go inside or outside.”
Lletget, who made just two appearances off the bench in the month after arriving, celebrated his first MLS start with a 14th-minute goal that gave LA a 1-1 draw in Columbus. Then he scored again in his next three appearances, a U.S. Open Cup rout of amateurs PSA Elite, the finale in a 5-1 destruction of Philadelphia, and the opener in a 5-0 romp over Portland.
He scored stoppage-time goals in LA's last two league routs, over Toronto on July 4 and last weekend against San Jose.
It's all been rather stunning for the Galaxy, their fans and their foes. Not so much for Lletget.
“I suppose it's a surprise, just for the [short amount of] time I've been here, and it just happened that way,” said Lletget, who has played with the U.S. under-17, -20 and -23 squads. “In my mind, I'm not surprised because I've worked hard and I know [what I can do]. I just hope it keeps on getting better.”
Lletget trialed with the Galaxy during their preseason trip to Ireland, and even they didn't know what they were getting as they negotiated over two months to bring him from West Ham, where his only first-team competitive appearance had been in a January 2014 FA Cup defeat.
“I just saw a guy who was very comfortable with the ball,” associate head coach Dave Sarachan said. “I didn't have an opportunity to see him opened up in a full game, so I honestly didn't know what we were getting on that level. And the other surprise for me is the actual work volume that he possesses. If you look at the data, he gets a lot of sprints in and he covers a lot of distance."
Sarachan also noted Lletget's ability to break down a team on the dribble, and his strategy-minded thinking. "He's got a good brain for the game, so the one sort of 'x' factor with him is he's clever in going north-south, getting forward and really being a penetrating forward," he said of Lletget. "He gets into situations where he can really go at a defense and penetrate and create imbalances on the defensive side.”
Lletget, who missed Tuesday's International Champions Cup friendly against Barcelona with a slight hamstring strain, expects to play Saturday. And he's shown a propensity for popping up in the right spot.
“It's just getting in those positions,” he explained. “I just try to use my brain and see where defenses are, and it's also the effort to get into the box -- even though the balls over there and I'm all the way over here, I've got to get in there. It's just the mentality.”
