Rumor: LAFC to bring in Chilean midfielder Pablo Aránguiz

A new report out of Chile has linked MLS expansion team Los Angeles Football Club to another young South American. On Wednesday, Coopertiva reported (story in Spanish) LAFC will pick up Chilean midfielder Pablo Aránguiz.

Aránguiz, 20, has played his entire pro career to date in his native country, for Unión Española. He helped lead them to a league runner-up place last year, and he has some Copa Libertadores experience. In addition, Aránguiz is a Chilean youth international, although he missed the cut for the South American U-20 Championship last year, considered one of the premier youth tournaments in the world.

According to the report, LAFC will pay a $1.5 million transfer fee for Aránguiz, certainly a plausible sum but it’s worth wondering if that means he would become the expansion side’s third and final Designated Player, or if they would pay down the fee and his salary with Targeted Allocation Money. If it is the latter, it could be a shrewd piece of business while leaving the third DP slot open, assuming the player could contribute, of course.

We’ll see if this rumor has legs. It certainly falls within the realm of the possible, especially considering LAFC have already signed Diego Rossi and seem to be following the trend of picking up promising youth South Americans. But you never know if this is legit or if there’s an agent trying to drum up interest. If this story is real, we’ll certainly hear more about it in the coming days, with training camp starting in less than two weeks.

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