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Los Angeles Football Club have not been averse to transfer deadline-day trades in MLS, and that trend continued on Wednesday, as they sent forward Christian Ramirez to the Houston Dynamo in exchange for $100,000 in 2019 General Allocation Money, $75,000 in 2020 General Allocation Money, $75,000 in 2020 Targeted Allocation Money, along with additional future performance-based considerations.
“Christian played an important role for us both on and off the field in his time with LAFC,” LAFC EVP of Soccer Operations and General Manager John Thorrington said in a statement. “We appreciate his contributions to the club and wish him all the best moving forward.”
Ramirez, 28, joined on a deadline-day trade a year ago from Minnesota United, where he really built his career. With LAFC, he scored six goals in 24 MLS regular-season appearances, one goal in one playoff appearance, and was also capped by the U.S. Men’s National Team for the first time this year, scoring a goal in two appearances.
The return is interesting in this deal, as LAFC took a loss on what they paid Minnesota United for Ramirez: $250,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) in 2018 and 2019, $100,000 in Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) in 2018, $200,000 in TAM in 2019, and up to $200,000 in future Allocation Money based on the player’s performance at LAFC. If we strip that $200,000 conditional clause off that total, LAFC paid $800,000 for Ramirez a year ago in combined allocation money and sold him for $250,000 plus possibly more in the future. It’s currently unclear if Ramirez asked for more playing time, which hastened his departure, or if LAFC opted to move the forward on, for roster or financial reasons.
It’s a bit of a shame Ramirez is moving on. Some of the goals he scored for LAFC were terrific, and he was always a hard-working player in the lineup, one who was a very good option with Adama Diomande battling injury issues off and on. At the same time, the Orange County native had a series of big chances missed this year and that seemed to weigh on him. Hopefully in Houston he’ll get plenty of run and back in the goals column...except when he faces LAFC. Best of luck to him on the next step in his career.
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