Can the Galaxy successfully navigate another season without Riqui Puig?

The Galaxy will begin the new season the same way they ended the old one – with Riqui Puig on the sidelines after knee surgery. This is a big deal because Puig is about the closest thing MLS has to an irreplaceable player. And with training camp starting in a few weeks, the team has little time to try to replace him.

In 2024, the last time Puig was on the field, he led the league in touches and assists and set career highs in goals (13) and assists (15). With him running the attack, the Galaxy set a record with four players scoring 10 or more times en route to a sixth MLS title. It was one of the best seasons in franchise history.

In 2025, without Puig, the only records set by the Galaxy were those of futility, starting the season winless in their first 16 league matches and finishing with just seven wins, the franchise’s lowest for a full season. No reigning MLS Cup champion has fared this poorly.

The contrast is so stark because Puig not only defines the way the team plays; he East the way the team plays. He is the quarterback and the leader. His speed, dribbling and passing ability push the Galaxy forward, opening up space of opportunity for his teammates. He’s the rare player who truly makes everyone around him better.

Even Lionel Messi isn’t as important to his team as Puig is to the Galaxy.

“The game changes when Riqui is on the field,” coach Greg Vanney said.

Puig first tore the ACL in his left knee in the 2024 Western Conference Finals, assisting on the game’s only goal after sustaining the injury. The Galaxy originally thought he would be back by the end of the summer, in time for the playoffs. So last winter they felt comfortable trading away Mark Delgado and Gastón Brugman, Puig’s two most likely replacements, largely to fit their payroll into the MLS salary cap.

In the meantime, the plan was to make Marco Reus the team’s midfield maestro. But Reus has had his own injury problems and didn’t start back-to-back MLS games until early May. At that point, the Galaxy had not won in their first 10 matches.

Reus continued to play well at times, but by then the season was effectively over. There would be no playoff push, so the Galaxy didn’t feel the need to rush Puig.

This winter, the team’s entire offseason preparation was based around Puig’s return, both on and off the field.

Off the field, the Galaxy filmed a multi-part documentary titled “Riqui Puig’s Road to Recovery” and used his return to hype ticket sales. On the field, believing the midfield was set, general manager Will Kuntz added two top defenders, Jakob Glesnes and Justin Haak, committing more than $2 million in salary to the pair.

But then, a day into the new year, Puig and the team learned he needed another surgery and would have to miss a second season, throwing all of the Galaxy’s plans into the dumpster.

The Galaxy never blamed their problems last season on Puig’s absence, but they didn’t have to. It was obvious. And if they couldn’t replace the irreplaceable last season, what confidence should we have that they can do it this season?

The team’s biggest mistake last year was not planning for Puig’s absence. The team entered the winter knowing he would miss most of the season and failed to act accordingly. They even kept Puig’s $5.8 million salary and designated player spot in hopes he would play at some point.

Don’t expect them to make the same mistakes this time around. Instead, the Galaxy are almost certain to place him on the season-ending injury list, opening up a DP spot and erasing the impact of his salary on the budget cap.

The good news, if there is any, is that Vanney thinks the Galaxy finally figured out how to play without Puig last year. After going winless in its first 16 games in MLS, the Galaxy went 7-6-5 in league play and finished third in the Leagues Cup, earning a spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

“At the end of the year, we were beating MLS playoff teams and we were beating the best teams in Mexico,” Vanney said. “We discovered how this group could succeed without the missing pieces. »

Now they will have to start again.

What exactly happened with Puig has not been clarified. He had been in rehab for more than a year when he returned home to Barcelona for the holidays. Puig trained alongside the team last fall and continued to train in Spain. The recovery seemed to be going well.

But something – a quick movement or an uncertain cut – sent Puig back to the doctor and a day later he underwent a second operation.

ACL revision surgeries (multiple procedures) are not uncommon, with some studies suggesting they are necessary between 10% and 20% of the time, especially for athletes who play so-called pivotal sports like football. Most often, a second surgery is necessary because the first graft has torn again.

Christen Press, a two-time world champion, tore a ligament in her right knee eight games into her first season with Angel City and needed four surgeries to repair the damage. She started only three more matches over the next three and a half seasons before retiring.

But Press was 33 when she was injured. Puig is 26 years old. And while that suggests the chances of a full recovery are high, Puig’s age also adds to the poignancy of the situation as the injury will now take two years off his career when he was at his peak.

Another season like 2024 could have allowed Puig, who played 42 games in four seasons for Barcelona, ​​to plot a return to Europe or at least another big payday in MLS. Now, he won’t play another game until he’s 27 and into the final year of his contract, when the pressure to prove he’s healthy and still a dynamic, game-changing player will be immense.

In the meantime, the Galaxy find themselves once again trying to replace the irreplaceable.

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