Long-serving LA Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza traded to Houston Dynamo

thanksAJ

And with the above image used in a Galaxy tweet Friday, one of the longest-serving LA players ever — highly-regarded and popular defender AJ DeLaGarza — was gone, heading for the Houston Dynamo for a combined $175,000 in allocation money.

“This decision was extremely difficult to make,” Galaxy General Manager Peter Vagenas said. “A.J. is a champion and will always mean so much to this club, this city and our fans. We thank him for his many contributions to the Galaxy and know he will forever be a part of our family. With that said, we feel that this will give us flexibility to strengthen our roster going forward with the use of additional allocation money.”

From the Galaxy press release:

DeLaGarza was drafted by the Galaxy in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft and has been with the club for eight seasons, making 204 appearances and 196 starts in MLS Regular Season matches and 16 appearances and 13 starts in the MLS Cup Playoffs. He will join the Dynamo as a three-time MLS Cup winner as a member of the Galaxy (2011, 2012, 2014).

The defender is one of just five players to make over 200 appearances for the Galaxy, alongside Cobi Jones, Landon Donovan, Kevin Hartman, and Mauricio Cienfuegos.

The trade must have come as quite a shock to DeLaGarza; he hasn’t Tweeted in reaction to the trade.

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