The LA Galaxy are in the midst of a historically awful year and have just rewarded Greg Vanney with a three-year contract extension and a generous pay increase. Will Kuntz has faced the heat for making ineffective signings according to fans and seemingly putting the Galaxy in a position to fail in 2025.
The funny thing is, in a way he absolutely did. Here’s why.
The LA Galaxy are currently on the worst winless run to start the season in the history of the MLS. Already a third of the way into the campaign they’ve amassed a measly three points. They’ve also scored as many own goals as goals in favor in the last three games. These include a loss to a team that had 0.00 xG, a historic 7-0 thrashing, and a 3-2 loss after leading 0-2 after the first 45 minutes.
Greg Vanney has been under immense pressure this season, even telling MLS Spanish commentators Pablo Ramírez and Jesús Bracamontes that he’s been “low on happiness” before suffering the Galaxy’s worst loss of all time to the New York Red Bulls. Unfortunately for him, fans don’t care about feelings and many have called for his head to roll after leading their team through such a terrible run.
Unfortunately for those fans, the opposite has happened. The LA Galaxy instead announced that they have re-signed Greg Vanney to a three-year deal until the end of the 2028 season and have made him the highest paid manager that doesn’t have a dual sports manager role. They’ve also hired Ravi Ramineni, known for revolutionising data analysis for the Seattle Sounders and across the league as a whole, as Director of Quantitative Analysis, an all-new role within the club.
By investing in Vanney for the long-term and adding even greater support around him in the form of hirings who will help with player acquisitions, General Manager Will Kuntz is making his intentions clear: to win another cup in 2026 or ‘27.
Fans will be confused as to how rewarding a manager so handsomely for failing to win once in 13 games will result in winning the MLS Cup. To be clear, Vanney isn’t being rewarded for the shambolic run of form the team has been in this year. The Galaxy’s announcement explains that the renewal was decided after Vanney secured the sixth cup, before the start of the 2025 season. The deal was only just finalized as the group’s priority in the offseason was to secure signings in the 5-week window before the start of the new campaign.
It is true that the optics are difficult, causing supporters to question whether Will Kuntz is working for or against the LA Galaxy. He has also garnered new critics for making acquisitions that fans feel have been wasteful in 2025, namely Lucas Sanabria, Elijah Wynder, Matheus Nascimento, and reserve goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski.
Marcinkowski’s role in the team is difficult to explain. Kuntz possibly wanted Novak Micovic as the main keeper at the start of the season planning that he would prove his worth and earn himself a high-value transfer. This would allow the Galaxy to earn a return on their massive investment in the Serbian goalkeeper, who has spent the vast majority of his Galaxy career as an understudy. If this scenario had played out as intended, Micovic would be off the books and Marcinkowski would be needed as John McCarthy’s backup. While it might explain the tumultuous goalkeeping situation at the start of the year and the resulting overload in net, this theory is admittedly nothing but conjecture.
Sanabria, Wynder, and Nascimento’s signings make much more sense. Many fans have been critical of them for making little to no impact so far this season. What those fans aren’t seeing thanks to the team’s poor form as a whole is that whether or not the young signings immediately become important contributors in 2025 isn’t as big of a concern right now. They have been acquired with the intention of developing them into top players who know how to excel in Vanney’s system just like Dejan Joveljic was.
Joveljic joined the Galaxy in 2021 as a raw but talented 21-year-old and left the club as an MLS Cup champion after scoring 29 goals across the regular season and playoffs in 2024. Joveljic took years to develop into a player who could contribute to a cup run in a big way, spending most of his tenure in a rotational role, much like Sanabria, Wynder, and Nascimento have so far. The Galaxy waited a while, but they were rewarded for investing early and trusting their recruitment (even when some fans didn’t) with a killer cup-winning striker.
They will look to replicate this success with Sanabria, Wynder, and Nascimento (if signed on a permanent basis following the current loan). Sanabria and Wynder contributing to the Galaxy going up by two goals for the first time all year against Philadelphia Union is an added bonus, but Kuntz is more concerned with letting the young talents develop into cup champions in the future than seeing them immediately become mainstays in the 2025 team.
Will Kuntz made a statement with these signings, Greg Vanney’s recent renewal, and the new administrative moves, that statement being that he is willing to suffer now with the focus of building for future success.
During his recent podcast tour Kuntz explained that he knew 2025 would be a wash after Riqui Puig tore his ACL in the Western Conference Semifinal. This decision wasn’t about being a bad general manager who gives up trying to compete at the first sign of difficulty, but about avoiding short-sighted moves that could hurt the team in the near-future.
On The Cooligans Podcast Kuntz said, “Everything we’ve been doing was obviously having Riqui in the mix. The question is do we go away from having Riqui? Do we go away from our plan just for a 2025 plan?… Or do we keep the overall plan in place and put together a roster that we think is going to be best when we’re healthy?”
Instead of trying to save a season that would be difficult to compete for a title in thanks to the loss of Puig for most of the year and losing key players as a result of winning (the team was $2.5 million over the cap with the cup-winning roster), Kuntz decided to keep it pushing and make choices that will set the Galaxy up for success in later years.
His first moves to this end were signing Sanabria and Wynder, who are proving their potential to grow into top midfield talents to support Puig when he does return. His next move was to retain his cup-winning manager who has a close relationship with his star-player Riqi Puig. Kuntz kept cooking by making their recruitment ability even stronger and hiring Ramineni, one of the most experienced analytical minds in the entire league. He will help the team ensure an even higher success rate with future signings in the coming transfer windows, giving them the best possible chance to add players who will contribute immediately.
Riqui Puig is a brilliant player, but it’s impossible for him to win the MLS Cup on his own. Greg Vanney has proven himself as a top manager, but he, like any other manager, needs a competent roster and support staff to lead to victory.
Riqui Puig has a contract until 2027. Greg Vanney has a new contract until 2028. By investing in young players who will develop into top talents, building a league-best analytics department, and trusting the same recipe that was successful in 2024, Will Kuntz is making sure to build a team that will be able to compete and win with Puig and Vanney’s help in 2026 and 2027. These moves may come at the cost of the 2025 season, but it could very well be a price worth paying if they end up in a historic seventh MLS Cup.
While the LA Galaxy should absolutely be doing better than they are right now, there’s little Will Kuntz or Greg Vanney could have done to prevent the current state of affairs. Injuries to their most important players, poor mistakes from other players, and plain old bad luck are out of their hands. It’s not a valid excuse for taking such a strong lead in the wooden spoon race, but it’s the unfortunate truth.
What is also true is that Will Kuntz doesn’t let bad results distract him from executing his master plan. It’s a shame that things have gone this wrong for the LA Galaxy, but those like Kuntz who remain faithful and plant the seeds for success during the lean times will be the first to reap the rewards when it becomes time to reap the fruits of their labor.
Things are bad now, but are you ready for seven (or eight) in ‘27?
PHOTO: LA Galaxy
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