Quote SheetGiovani dos Santos Introductory Press Conference
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
StubHub Center – Carson, Calif.
LA GALAXY PRESIDENT CHRIS KLEIN
Opening remarks:
“Thank you all for coming out this afternoon. As many of you know, this has been a long time coming for us. We’ve been chasing Giovani for some time, and we are very excited he is finally here and we are looking forward to getting him on the field. With anything that we do with our club, it starts at the top with us. I would like to take a moment to thank Mr. Anschutz and his continued investment in urging us to be aggressive in everything that we do, so we thank Mr. Anschutz for everything that he does for us. It continues with Dan Beckerman our CEO, who again, gives us every support, every dollar, and every encouragement that we need to make this club great and to continue what we do. Thank you to Bruce Arena for giving us the confidence that we can bring any player into this club, and we can make it work. No matter how big the personality is we can make it work. I’d also like to thank Jovan Kirovski our technical director who put in a tremendous amount of work, effort, and time into this. This is dating back a few years, so thank you to Jovan.
I’d like to thank Giovani and his family and his representatives for sticking with us, and ultimately having the confidence in us, the Galaxy, and our club to make this move, because I know that it is an important move at a very critical stage in his career. This signing for us is consistent with what we’ve said for a long time now. We want to be the best club not only in our league, but in our region. We know that there are a number of different competitions and different ways to measure that, but our goal is clear. We want to be the best in this region and we are going to continue to be aggressive at every step of the way, and with everything that we do.
Another reason this makes me excited is because we’ve talked for a long time that we believe that we represent the great city that we play in. We have players that grew up a few miles from here, players from England and Ireland, and now to bring Giovani in, a player from Mexico is something that is important because of the city that we represent night in and night out. Giovani, welcome and congratulations, welcome to the Galaxy. “
LA GALAXY MANAGER BRUCE ARENA
Opening remarks:
“Well Giovani, welcome. We are thrilled as a team and an organization to have Giovani as a part of us now. I think he is another strong piece in that puzzle that we try to piece together every year in our attempt to make our team the best in the league. Giovani is a player with a lot of talent, a player in my belief who has a great future and is not even close to attaining the quality that he can attain as a player. I’m hopeful that his experience with the LA Galaxy continues his growth as a player.
I want him to be a great player for the LA Galaxy, for Mexico, but maybe not in October when they play Confederations Cup. I actually want to see all the Galaxy players have a great game that day, hopefully the U.S. wins, but we want to do our very best to bring Giovani along as a great player for the Galaxy and for his country as well. We are thrilled to have him here and we ask everyone to please be patient. Giovani is coming back from an injury. He’ll take a little bit of time to get in full form, but we think he has a great future here. We are really excited about having him as a part of our team and I want to give a little hint ahead that we think we may see him on the field, we will see him on the field, on Thursday and some capacity as well. His first MLS game will be on Sunday against the Seattle Sounders.
Once again we are thrilled to have him here and I want to thank Mr. Anschutz, Dan Beckerman, Chris, the hard work from Jovan, and Giovani and his family for supporting this move. We look forward to him having many great years as a member of the LA Galaxy. Thank you, and welcome again.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD GIOVANI DOS SANTOS
Opening remarks:
“Well first I would like to thank my family, my agent, Chris Klein, Bruce Arena, Jovan Kirovski, Dan Beckerman, and Mr. Anschutz for the opportunity to play for the LA Galaxy. This is a big club with big players, and I have come here to win. I’m very excited to be here in Los Angeles, so thank you.”
On impact in the club and the community:
“Well I’m very proud of being Mexican. It’s going to be great to play here with the Mexican fans here in Los Angeles and I hope I can represent my Mexican fans and my Mexican people very well. I can’t wait to get on the pitch and play with my team. In football you never know what will happen. Timing is an important part of any move, and for me it was the right moment to come here in the prime of my career and I’m ready to take that challenge.”
On wearing the number 10:
“Well I think everyone knows that Landon [Donovan] is a great player whom I have a lot of respect for. But I am Giovani dos Santos and I came here to work hard and win titles and make my own history here in the club. Hopefully I can win a lot of titles and make big history here.”
On relationship with Robbie Keane:
“I’ve kept in touch with him for many years and he is a good friend. But I think he is a great player and I’m really happy about the opportunity to come here and play with him with the LA Galaxy. Hopefully I can learn a lot from him, Steven Gerrard, and the rest of my team. So I’m really happy about the opportunity to play with big players like [Keane] him.”
On training with new teammates:
“I feel great, I’m fit, and my teammates are all really nice people.”
On joining MLS:
“It was a difficult decision for me and for my family to come here to the MLS, but as I said, I think it was the right moment to come here in the prime of my career. I think MLS is growing as a league and I hope I can make good things happen here in the MLS and win a lot of titles.”
(Translated from Spanish)
On the impact of his arrival with the media and the community:
“I’ve said before, I think this is a big club and I believe that I can win titles here. I think there have been many great players that have come here. There are a lot of Mexicans here in Los Angeles and that has played an important role in my decision. The truth is that I am very grateful with all of the support that I have received from the first day I arrived here. From all of the fans that welcomed me at the airport and even the ones who have come to the trainings, the president, the trainers, and all of my teammates, and the truth is that I am very happy today with the decision that I made.”
On his message to those who have criticized his move to MLS and a message to them:
“Simply that they should watch more soccer. I don’t think they know MLS very well. We must remove the label of it being a small league. I honestly have been here two days training with my teammates and they have exquisite quality that any team could have in Europe. The truth is I think that this league in a few years will be one of the most important in the world. For those who criticize me, I just bless them and hope they are happy.”
On MLS offseason and what plans are made:
“Well I have just landed and I haven’t thought about that. I have had two days here and have only met my teammates, the club and I could talk about that in the future, but the truth is I haven’t thought about that yet.”
On his career and finding stability:
“Yes, that’s a big part of coming here. I’m 26 years old and I think that here I can find that stability. I have been a part of a lot of teams and I think that it has helped me a lot to gain experience. I’ve met various players, different cultures and styles of play and I think that has made me mature a lot as both a player and a person. All the decisions that I’ve taken I will never regret. Instead, I will always be thankful for what God has given me and I think this is a big moment that I have wanted.”
On being the new Mexican star for the Galaxy and wearing the No. 10 following Landon Donovan:
“With the Mexican fans, the truth is that I came here with the love that they have expressed to me and the national team, which has been incredible. It was an important part of making this decision to come here to play with all of the Mexican fans that are in Los Angeles. Landon Donovan is a great player, one that I respect a lot. But I come here to make my own history. I come to work hard in order to achieve important things with this club.”
On his message to the Mexican fans:
“Thank you for your support. I hope to be able to give you all much happiness. I simply want you all to come and support the team and to come to support me. And obviously I send you all my blessings for all that has happened to come here and build a life and I hope that you all come to the stadium and can enjoy this with me.”
On if his arrival to MLS will affect his status with getting called up the Mexican national team:
“No, why? I’m playing soccer. I’m not changing sports. So if I’m in good form and doing well then of course I will continue being called up. I don’t see why I wouldn’t continue being selected to the national team maintaining good form here.”
