Recent results suggest that Greg Vanney may have found the right balance of youth and experience in his roster. The average age the LA Galaxy’s starting eleven has dropped by three years since the dismal start of the year and has resulted in one of the best runs of form of the entire season.
Could the Galaxy’s current youth movement have major implications beyond 2025?
The LA Galaxy are currently on a bit of a hot streak, relatively speaking.
They have lost just once in their last six games since losing to Inter Miami on August 16th. That run has seen them secure third place in Leagues Cup and qualification to the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.
They’ve also managed to pick up five of a possible nine points in their last three league games. That type of form from the start of the season would have had the Galaxy top of the Western Conference with 56 points and a game in hand on San Diego FC, rather than at the bottom of the cumulative league table with just 21 points in 29 games.
What’s Changed Since February?
A large part of the Galaxy’s recent revival can be credited to the youngsters on the roster. Injuries, suspensions, and an overall lack of depth (and perhaps a feeling that there’s nothing more to lose) have forced Greg Vanney to field a younger team.
Players like Edwin Cerillo (24) and Novak Micovic (23) had already earned their starting spots, but the Galaxy’s situation has allowed players like Harbor Miller (18), Elijah Wynder (22), and Lucas Sanabria (21), as well as newly integrated players Chris Rindov (23) and Nicklaus Sullivan (23) to present their own strong arguments for a place in the eleven.
The more frequent use of these under-25 players alongside the already known variables the likes of Mauricio Cuevas (22), Tucker Lepley (22), and Isaiah Parente (25), has seen the LA Galaxy starting elevens’ age drop from 28 in the season opener, close to the oldest starting eleven in the entire league, to just 25 in their recent 1-1 draw away at the Houston Dynamo.
Youth Leading From the Front
Greg Vanney has been impressed with the way these youngsters have risen to the challenges of the season.
After the come-from-behind 2-2 tie against the Seattle Sounders, who put six unanswered goals past the Galaxy in just two matches in August, Vanney said about his young squad, “This particular group of players has picked up a win and two draws on the road and it’s been most of these guys just working collectively and sticking to kind of the program… it’s been fun to watch them.”
Their hard work and commitment to Vanney’s ideas has great results for the Galaxy in the context of the season.
Players 25 and younger have tallied six official goal contributions in the last seven games (seven contributions in seven if you add an assist for Matheus Nascimento that wasn’t credited to him against C.F. Pachuca). That figure represents young players contributing to 64% of the Galaxy’s total goals scored in that time.
What does this Mean for the Galaxy’s Future?
These results featuring Vanney’s youngsters almost guarantee that he will continue to field them in the final six matches of the season. This will be a massive opportunity for the kids to continue to showcase their talent and impress the front office members responsible for building the 2026 squad, namely Greg Vanney, Will Kuntz, Mikkel Dencher, and Ravi Ramineni.
If the young players do enough to convince the front office that they need not look elsewhere for reinforcements in their positions, it could open up some interesting options for the decision makers.
Younger players typically earn more salary-cap friendly wages. By allowing younger players to take up more of the roster spots, the Galaxy might open up valuable cap space that could be reinvested in more difference-makers in key areas.
Cap space, or a lack thereof, has been a common issue for LA in recent years, leading to the departures of important players like Dejan Joveljic, Mark Delgado, and Gaston Brugman. Counting on youngsters may open up enough cap space to avoid more of these significant departures in the future.
The LA Galaxy’s youth movement is already proving that they can do big things in 2025. It’ll be exciting to see how they continue to grow and potentially make seismic shifts in the team’s modus operandi.
PHOTO: Bailey Holiver-Imagn Images, Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
The post The Kids Are Alright: LA Galaxy’s Youth Leading The Way appeared first on Los Angeles Sports Nation.