“We’re moving fast, we’re traveling high far and wide I can assure you,” LAFC EVP of Soccer Operations and General Manager John Thorrington told host Dave Denholm recently on ESPN LA’s 710 AM “Soccer Weekly” radio show.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Thorrington spoke about the club’s scouting process, LAFC player rumors, the upcoming expansion draft and the club’s training facility under construction at Cal State Los Angeles.
“Both myself and Bob have logged quite a few miles to go and watch the players we’ve identified from afar,” Thorrington said. “I’d say we have a lot of oars in the water now and we’re moving.”
With the MLS Expansion Draft less than four weeks away, Thorrington also gave some insight into LAFC’s approach and strategy to the draft.
“For all these people that say there’s no value in the expansion draft I disagree,” Thorrington said. “I think you can get some real key pieces and that will be our intention, whether directly through the five players we pick, or by selecting the right guys and getting assets in exchange for them.”
In addition to the club’s new 22,000-capacity Banc of California Stadium set to open in Spring, 2018, LAFC is also building a state of the art training facility on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles, and Thorrington gave some insight into this project as well.
“Not to be ignored, our owners are investing heavily in our performance center at Cal State LA, a big undertaking,” said Thorrington. “It’s not easy to find space here in L.A., and it will be a home befitting of any player that we could possibly sign. It’s a state of the art, 30,000 square foot facility – with a beautiful field that will eventually house all of our soccer programming with the academy to have a completely centralized and aligned structure.”
For more from Thorrington on “Soccer Weekly”, listen to the full interview: http://www.espn.com/espnradio/losangeles/play?id=21440461
