CARSON, Calif. – LA Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid says new Director of Player Personnel and Scouting Kurt Schmid is already actively seeking to improve the squad for the 2018 campaign.
The Galaxy announced the hiring of new director earlier this month, bringing Kurt into the fold after he spent eight-years with Seattle Sounders FC. Under his new role, Schmid will work directly in all soccer-related aspects of both the Galaxy first team and LA Galaxy II, while identifying talent across all levels.
For the Galaxy manager, the hiring of Kurt will only strengthen the team’s scouting abilities as they seek to rebuild.
“He brings eight years of experience now doing the job. People forget that he’s done this for a long, long time,” Sigi Schmid told LA Galaxy Insider. “His ability to identify talent has been very good as evidence of what Seattle’s done---not only on the international market but also in the college draft. That’s an area where you got to go all the way back to Omar Gonzalez and AJ DeLaGarza say ok we really had some guys from the draft impact our team.
“I think that he can help us. He’s one of the best guys in the country at his job. That’s a plus for us as well. He’s already out and about right now hitting the pavement, watching games and trying to find us players.”
Galaxy president Chris Klein stated that the hiring of Schmid is only part of the change occurring in the technical and sports science departments.
“It’s another piece to our staff that we can build on. He has a tremendous amount of experience scouting. Our league has changed in a big way with more money being available, and it’s not just the players inside our league or big-name DPs. We have to be able to scout better.
“A big piece is that we’re going to have a top college draft pick and understanding the resource that we’ll have there. Certainly, it’s a question of identifying – we need the best staff that we can get and we’re aggressively heading in that direction.”
