At 16 years old, Sebastian Lletget signed a professional contract with West Ham United in the English Premier League. However, the manager who signed him got sacked and in came Sam Allardyce soon after.
Under Allardyce, Lletget played only one game with the first team – a FA Cup game lost against Nottingham Forrest back in January 2014.
“It’s very difficult. I think people underestimate how difficult it actually is,” Lletget said on the ExtraTime Radio podcast. “You don’t have anybody holding your hand. You’re playing with men. You’re playing with Premier League players. Even though it’s a very good standard, it’s tough. It’s tough to break in. These clubs have money, so they can just buy new players. It just makes it that much harder.”
On May 8th, the LA Galaxy announced his signing after acquiring his Discovery Rights for $50,000 in allocation money from the New England Revolution. Arena criticized the Revolution for trying to “blackmail” the Galaxy and MLS for it’s ridiculous rules.
Lletget has taken the league by storm ever since made he made his debut for the Galaxy on May 5th, 2015 as a substitute against Orlando City SC. He has quietly proven to be one of the most impact signings this season and at a bargain price as well.
He is a midfield threat with versatility that can play on the wings or as an attacking midfielder. He has a knack of keeping possession, something the Galaxy has had trouble the first half of the season.
In eight appearances this year (five starts), he has had five goals with 13 shots and 7 shots on goal. Lletget has played 466 minutes in all and this comes out to a goal every 93.2 minutes. Talk about a scoring impact and the ability to learn a new offense in a short amount of time.
Playing alongside Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard doesn’t hurt either.
“He is young, he is learning, he is great, he is scoring a few goals which is very important to us. If he continues to do that, and listen to experienced players, and know when to take on people, and when to take it simple. He has already been a big addition and going forward he will be.”
With Mexican international Giovani Dos Santos coming later this summer, Lletget will have to battle it out with other midfielders like Jose Villarreal and Baggio Husidic for a starting position. As of right now, I would him in my starting lineup over Husidic just because of his ability to adapt to the midfield and his skills on the wings.
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