UPDATE: Thursday, 1:15 pm ET: The LA Galaxy have officially announced the transfer of striker Ola Kamara to Chinese Super League club Shenzhen FC.
“This decision will be mutually beneficial to both our club and Ola,” said LA Galaxy General Manager Dennis te Kloese in a club statement. “Ola wanted to pursue opportunities elsewhere, and we worked to complete a move that will give us options to strengthen our roster moving forward. We thank Ola for what he has contributed to this club and wish him the best in his future.”
Wednesday, 10:29 pm ET: The LA Galaxy have completed the sale of striker Ola Kamara to Chinese Super League club Shenzhen FC, a source told MLSsoccer.com on Wednesday night.
According to the source, Shenzhen paid the Galaxy a $3.5 million transfer fee for Kamara, who signed a three-year contract with the club that will pay him $3 million net per year. The Athletic’s Kristian Dyer was first to report that the deal was finalized and the amount of the transfer fee.
MLSsoccer.com reported on Tuesday morning that LA were close to selling Kamara to a Chinese club. The Galaxy announced later Tuesday that they had granted Kamara’s request to travel to China to finalize a transfer.
Kamara signed a three-year deal with LA last April, three months after the Galaxy acquired him from the Columbus Crew in exchange for Gyasi Zardes and $400,000 in Targeted Allocation Money (TAM). LA sent an additional $100,000 in TAM to the Crew after Kamara passed the 12-goal mark last season.
According to the MLS Players Association, Kamara made $925,000 in 2018. The Norwegian international finished last season with 14 goals and three assists in 31 league matches. He recorded 48 goals and eight assists in 90 career regular season games across three years in MLS.
While the Kamara deal is complete, the Galaxy still have a major piece of business to attend to ahead of Saturday’s opener against the Chicago Fire (8 pm ET on FS1, FOX Deportes in USA; MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada).
The club currently have four Designated Players on their roster in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Romain Alessandrini and brothers Giovani and Jonathan dos Santos. They’ll need to get that number down to three by the league’s roster compliance deadline on Friday.
Sources told MLSsoccer.com last month that the club was attempting to restructure Giovani dos Santos's contract so that the Galaxy could buy his deal down with Targeted Allocation Money. Sources have said this week that the club are still working through that possibility and are considering buying out his contract entirely.
