Joseph Paintsil was never afraid to bet on himself.
Born in Ghana, he left his country as a teenager to travel to Hungary and become a professional footballer. He didn’t have a contract and it was the deadline for the Hungarian league, but Paintsil only needed half an hour to impress Ferencváros manager Thomas Doll during a training session. practice and get a contract offer.
When Ferencváros balked at signing a multi-year contract due to his lack of experience in Europe, Paintsil signed a loan deal which lasted until the end of the season. He then scored 10 goals in 25 matches. When Ferencváros offered him a new contract at the end of the year, Paintsil turned it down. Instead, Paintsil joined Belgian club KRC Genk for a chance to bet on himself again. There, despite some ups and downs, including a loan to Turkey, Paintsil became one of the best players in Belgium.
So when he was with the Ghana national team at the Africa Cup of Nations in January and received a call from his agent letting him know that the LA Galaxy were interested, Paintsil said he didn’t had to do just one thing to confirm his intuition.
GO FURTHER
MLS rule changes: League plans to allow more flexible spending
“I named my sister twin,” he said, “because she came from the same womb as me.”
His sister, Josephine, said Los Angeles was the right decision.
Paintsil knew the history of big names like David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic being signed by the Galaxy. He knew that coming to MLS in his prime meant he would be expected to produce like Galaxy greats Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan.
Paintsil said he was willing to bet on himself again.
“I’m not just coming to enjoy life in Los Angeles or California,” Paintsil said in a phone interview this week. “No, I also came to leave my mark and also write my name in the book of legacy, to have a trophy, to win a league. That’s the most important thing, to leave something so that when I also leave, like David Beckham, Ibrahimovic and the others left behind, I can also be remembered like that.
It’s still early in his first season with the Galaxy, but so far Paintsil’s bet on himself seems to be paying off again. The Galaxy remains undefeated after six games, its longest such streak to open a season since 2010. Paintsil has two goals and two assists and has been a catalyst for the attack, opening up space with his pace and his movements.
He’s exactly the type of player the Galaxy needs – a franchise that was once atop MLS and hasn’t advanced past the Western Conference quarterfinals since winning the MLS Cup in 2014. The 2023 season has been particularly disastrous; despite possessing one of the most talented offensive players in MLS, Riqui Puig, the Galaxy finished second to last in the Western Conference and fourth from bottom in the league standings. The Galaxy parted ways with two of the three assigned Designated Players (DPs), winger Douglas Costa and forward Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, leaving them with ample room to add impact players.
Before the names of the two players who would fill those open designated player spots were determined, head coach Greg Vanney went to Puig with a message: Help was coming.
The Galaxy wanted wingers who could stretch the field. Too often, teams were able to press against the Galaxy, compressing the midfield and taking away space from Puig. They needed threats to follow them. Players who would be, as Vanney sometimes calls them, “space creators”. They also needed these players to be able to finish their attacks.
“When we can get these guys,” Vanney told Puig, “it’s going to open everything up for you.”
As the January transfer window approached, a name quickly appeared at the top of the list.
GO FURTHER
‘I’m going to do my best to live it for him’: how a shortened life motivates Noel Buck
Paintsil had become a star in the Belgian League, scoring 17 goals and adding 12 assists in all competitions in 2022-23. He was explosive, productive and in his prime. There was only one problem: Vanney had spotted him earlier in his career at Genk, but the price was too high. Now, a few years later, it was still too expensive.
“Maybe we’ll reach out and see if there’s a buyout clause that doesn’t make this thing impossible,” Vanney suggested.
Galaxy scouting director Michael Stephens made a few calls. In fact, Paintsil made a buyout: 8 million euros (around 8.6 million dollars).
This was more than the Galaxy had budgeted for, but they felt it was a no-brainer.
“We were saying, ‘Hey, we’re getting a guy who is a legitimate, MVP-caliber player who has played at a very high level in a very good league and is in his prime,'” the manager said. Galaxy general Will Kuntz, who joined the team just after 2023 to help right the ship. “A lot of good boxes have been ticked. It gave us the confidence to say, “This is our guy. »
Paintsil, along with the Galaxy’s other big offseason signing, 23-year-old Brazilian Gabriel Pec, carried the message Vanney gave Puig at the end of last season. Puig has two goals and two assists, Mark Delgado has one goal and four assists and forward Dejan Joveljic has five goals, tied for second in MLS.
The Galaxy can beat teams off the counter, and players have shown they are capable of playing through a press. They now force teams to always respect the space behind them. Joveljic, in particular, has found more space to operate in the box as teams constantly have to worry about wingers.
“It’s really great chemistry,” Paintsil said. “We have a great bond now, as you can see. Both wingers have goals, Riqui has goals and assists, Dejan also scores, so it’s something really dangerous. We have a long way to go and I think what we are doing now, if we continue to do it and if we believe in each other, I think we will really kill a lot of clubs with our attacking style of play.
Paintsil has been the key to all of this so far, and not just because of the way he keeps teams off balance with his speed. Vanney called him a “sophisticated” player who has a high-level understanding of team play, noting Paintsil’s timing in his runs, his ability to make the final pass and, of course, finish. Vanney said it also helped that Paintsil came from a club where there was hope of winning.
The dynamism of Paintsil is obvious. For a team like the Galaxy trying to prove they can compete at the top of the league again, this type of leadership has been essential.
“He is aware of what it takes to leave a legacy behind and that’s one of the reasons he came here, to help the club succeed and for it to succeed in the process, leaves a legacy and leaves a mark,” Vanney said. . “It’s something I’ve learned over the years. The cinematographers, especially guys like Sebastian Giovinco, who comes in his prime, and Jozy (Altidore) when he’s back in his prime, and Michael (Bradley), come back for a different reason. They want to create a legacy, build a legacy, be a really important player at a club like the Galaxy or wherever, and they want to be winners, they want to lift trophies and carve their name in stone somewhere and be important in these locations. .
“He’s got the same demeanor and the same feelings toward him that I got from those guys, and he’s going to help this team be successful.”
(Photo: John Todd/ISI Photos/Getty Images; graphics by Jeff Rueter)