A new transfer rumor has emerged for Los Angeles Football Club, with Portuguese outfit La Bola reporting over the weekend that the expansion team is looking at midfielder Andre Horta.

The youngster, 21, currently plays for Braga in his native country, on loan from Primeira Liga power Benfica, who he joined in 2016. Prior to that he got his professional start with Vitoria Setubal, making his first-team debut in 2014. Horta is also a Portuguese youth international, having played from the U-18 to the U-21 level, and he’s played at both Vitoria and Braga alongside his older brother Ricardo.

According to the report from La Bola, LAFC have offered €7 million for Horta, which would absolutely make him a Designated Player, albeit a Young DP for their team cap charge, like the already signed Diego Rossi. The report also indicates Horta is interested in the move, as he wants to actually play and he’s only getting minutes sparingly at the moment.

So, is this real? Horta is the second young Portuguese player to be linked to LAFC this offseason, alongside Francisco Geraldes. It’s not entirely implausible they would go this route to fill the third DP slot, but with Rossi already a youngster on a Designated Player deal, the expectation would have to be that LAFC would get a player ready to make an immediate and consistent impact with the final slot in their complement. And while I applaud the team, should they choose to go a route like this, in not simply getting the most famous player available for the DP slot, team chemistry be damned, I was expecting a player with more name recognition in getting that last slot.

Still, we’ll see. This could be legit or an agent trying to drum up interest for his player in the press. At any rate, LAFC will most likely have their third Designated Player nailed down in the coming weeks, so we’ll hear much more on that front moving forward.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!