The Los Angeles Galaxy will be searching for someone to lead its front office.
On Saturday, it was announced that Dennis te Kloese will leave his role as General Manager of the LA Galaxy to return to the Netherlands, where he will become the CEO of Feyenoord.
Te Kloese became the Galaxy’s GM in December of 2018. During his time with the Galaxy, he hired two managers, Guillermo Barros Schelotto prior to the 2019 season, orchestrated the transfer of Giovani Dos Santos to Club America, which allowed the team to retain Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the 2019 season, then acquired Cristian Pavon on loan from Boca Juniors in August. All those moves paid off, as the LA Galaxy, after missing the playoffs in 2017 and 2018, returned to postseason play and upset Minnesota United in the quarterfinals, but eventually lost to crosstown rival LAFC in the semifinals.
Ibrahimovic departed the Galaxy to return to AC Milan, but te Kloese replaced him with another big splash in January of 2020 when he signed Mexican star Jaiver “Chicharito” Hernandez to replace him. Te Kloese had to guide the Galaxy through the pandemic-plagued season, and it was a rough one for the Galaxy, who exited in the group stages of the MLS is Back tournament, then when regular season play resumed, the Galaxy went 4-0-1, only to lose its next six games and eight of nine matches, and that stretch was apparently the last straw for te Kloese, who fired Schelotto on October 29.
Te Kloese then hired Greg Vanney, who had led Toronto to its best stretch in the franchise’s history, playing in the MLS Cup final three times and winning the 2017 title. Te Kloese was also aggressive in the transfer market, bringing in keeper Jonathan Bond, signing striker Kevin Cabral to a designated player contract, and also bringing in players such as Ryan Raveloson, Samuel Grandsir and Victor Vasquez, who was an integral part of Toronto’s great teams. The contributions of those players, as well as the comeback season of Chicharito Hernandez, who struggled in 2020, but rebounded with a 17 goal season in 2021. The Galaxy started strong and were on track to make it back to the playoffs, but endured a nine-match winless streak that played a role in the Galaxy’s late-season collapse that cost them a playoff spot.
