BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
Los Angeles Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney admits he has been thoroughly impressed by the physicality and dynamism shown by Zimbabwean striker Farai Mutatu during the Major League Side’s (MLS) pre-season training camp.
The 22 year-old forward, who is on a soccer scholarship at Michigan State University, made a big step towards earning a contract in the MLS after being selected by LA Galaxy in the first round of the 2022 MLS Draft last month.
And Mutatu, who was born in Zimbabwe before moving to the US at the age of seven, has been making a positive impression on his new bosses in a bid to earn a place in the LA Galaxy first team squad ahead of the new campaign.
Last week the gifted forward scored his first goal for his new club after finishing the target in LA Galaxy’s 5-2 win against Toronto FC in its pre-season opener in Carson, California.
Vanney, who has been assessing the young Zimbabwean’s capabilities ahead of the season kickoff at the end of this month said he has been impressed by Mutatu’s versatility.
“I would say Farai’s been impressive since day one. Obviously showing up and being fit and strong and and winning the beep test pretty handily is a good sign for yourself in terms of that you’re ready to go,” Vanney told reporters this week.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean everything, but it’s certainly a great first impression for the young man. I mean, he’s powerful, he’s dynamic.”
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Mutatu played predominantly at wing and centre forward for Michigan State University but Vanney said the team is experimenting with him in different positions to see where he may fit the best.
“He’s shown to be able to do different things. I mean, we’ve played him up top a little bit, we’ve played him out wide, there’s some talk about him maybe being able to play even from a deeper position wide. So for us we feel like he just has a lot of potential and I need to learn about him more and more about what his greatest strengths are, but he has shown really well in this first four days,” he said.
Ultimately, while nothing is guaranteed and Mutatu may ultimately begin his pro career with LA Galaxy’s reserve side Vanney ndicated that the Zimbabwean rookie stands a good chance of earning a first-team contract in 2022.
“It’s still early doors in all of this, but I think he’s competing to be within the first team mix and competing to be a player that can that can help our team this year,” Vanney said.
“Again, he has a lot of attributes that have him ready to compete, at least physically at the MLS level. And then it’s just again to figure out what is the best role, what’s the best position to help him be successful short term and long term within the group of players that we have, but he’s certainly done a nice job to create a first impression for himself.”
