Barca's impact on MLS goes beyond Lionel Messi and friends: How Riqui Puig turned LA Galaxy into contenders

FC Barcelona's iNFLuence looms large in MLS this season, with a handful of the club's ex-players in the mix for individual year-end awards after racking up goals and assists while targeting the league's most important piece of silverware – MLS Cup. That iNFLuence is not reserved solely for Inter Miami, though, despite hoarding a collection of former Barcelona stars like Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. The LA Galaxy boast an equally iNFLuential Barcelona academy graduate in Riqui Puig, who has had a career-best season for a group that has a real case as the eventual MLS Cup champions.

Alongside Messi and Suarez, Puig is one of three ex-Barcelona players to be nominated for league MVP this season, registering 13 goals and 16 assists as he led the Galaxy to a second-place finish in the Western Conference. The 25-year-old has become a dominant presence in midfield, leading the league in touches and attempted passes this season for the possession-oriented Galaxy. Puig's 2024 performances are a natural meeting point for the promise he offered as a Barcelona academy graduate and his own aspirations in MLS, even if those two concepts were at odds with each other earlier in his Galaxy career.

"Always when you come from Barcelona, the expectations are really high," he told CBS Sports. "When I come from Barcelona, I think that people are waiting for something of me that I cannot give to the fans, you know? I think that I'm trying to make goals, make assists and I think this year, it was one of the best seasons of my life and I'm really happy and really proud."

Though Puig had his moments in 2023, his first full season in the league, the 25-year-old improved across the board in 2024. He doubled his goal and assist tally this season and now averages 20 more touches and passes per Game, maintaining a passing accuracy of around 86% despite the uptick in passes.

He attributes the improvement to the Galaxy's recruitment in the offseason, signing players that fit Puig's role seamlessly.

"I think that this year, we have really good pieces, we [made] good transfers," he said. "Also with [Gabriel] Pec and [Joseph] Paintsil, I think that the team improved a lot, and for me, it's more easy because I have runners up top and that's more easy for me. Last year, we had a lot of injuries and I think that this year, the injuries and all the atmosphere we have at Galaxy, it's better and we improve a lot and for sure with [head coach] Greg [Vanney], I think he's making a really good job and we understand what he wants inside the field and we're really happy because we are playing really good and for sure, we are winning. That is important."

His career-best season allowed the Galaxy to rebound from last season's 14th-place finish, swapping a minus-16 goal differential in 2023 for plus-19 this year as they perfected a possession and pass-heavy style that got the best of their attacking talent. That includes a 16-goal, 12-assist season for Pec in his first year with the club.

Puig's MLS experiences are finally living up to his own expectations, too. Vanney and company have built the team around the midfielder, who has finally found his footing both on and off the field. As he learned to navigate Los Angeles' infamous traffic while commuting to Carson from West Hollywood, he also built a true on-field identity for himself while adjusting to MLS' "chaotic" style of play.

"It's a league [that's] really physical between La Liga and maybe MLS but I enjoy [it] a lot," he said. "I think that I find my position, that it's more a 10. Greg Vanney also, he manages the team to find me and to have a better performance during the season and for sure, I say always it's a league [that's] very chaotic, always box to box, you run a lot and for sure, I think that I improve a lot and I'm important in this league and also in my team, and that's important for me because I'm young and I think that I can improve a lot."

The 25-year-old may have surprised many when he swapped La Liga for MLS in 2022 as he struggled for playing time at Barcelona, but two years later, Puig feels like a breath of fresh air in a season of foregone conclusions in MLS. The league's strength is its unpredictability but the year of Messi, Suarez and Inter Miami's Supporters' Shield victory makes them the favorites to win MLS Cup in an entertaining, but antiquated recruitment strategy.

The Galaxy's ambitious acquisition of Puig, meanwhile, offers a more innovative approach to improve MLS' on-field product – signing young talents who developed in Europe and are willing to swap a journeyman-style career on the continent for a more impactful spell elsewhere. As the Galaxy prepare for their first Game of the MLS Cup Playoffs on Saturday against the Colorado Rapids and target their first MLS Cup in 10 years, it is hard to argue that the move did not pay off for either side

"I think that when I made the [move], all the people say that maybe I'm a little bit crazy because I'm really young and I come to a league that is improving and that is growing up but I think it is one of the best movements that I make in my career," Puig said. "I'm really proud that I made this decision and I think that a lot of players, also young players now, can see that MLS [is] in a good level and growing a lot. I think that a lot of young players want to come here and to chase the American dream that they say and for sure, I think that it's really important for us to bring people and young players here to MLS."