Carlos Vela agrees to return to LAFC as it prepares for another MLS Cup run

Carlos Vela has agreed to a deal with LAFC that will return him to its roster for the final month of the MLS regular season, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations not authorized to speak publicly. The deal is expected to be announced in the “coming days,” the person said.

The news was first reported by the digital platform GiveMeSports. The agreement came on the final day for MLS teams to set their rosters for the end of the regular season and playoffs.

Vela, the club’s original first-team signing in 2017, captained LAFC to two Supporters' Shields, two trips to the MLS Cup final and one league championship. He holds virtually every club career record including games (152), starts (127), goals (78) and assists (58). In his second season he set the MLS single-season goal-scoring record with 34, winning league most valuable player honors.

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The former Mexican national team star played in all 34 regular-season games last year, the final year of a contract extension, scoring nine times and leading the team with 12 assists. Vela, who turned 35 in May, made a guaranteed $4.4 million in 2023 and was reportedly offered a new deal that included a sizable pay cut.

Instead the team invested in designated player Olivier Giroud and re-signed Denis Bouanga, the league’s reigning Golden Boot winner, to a contract extension that included a nearly $1.2-million raise to $3.6 million.

Vela reportedly talked to the San José Earthquakes and drew interest from teams in Mexico last winter and spring, but his desire to return to LAFC was so strong he didn’t bother to clean out his locker at the team’s training facility on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles, suggesting talks between the team and the player’s agent never completely stopped.

However in that locker room, hope a deal would eventually get done faded over the summer.

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“Carlos is a guy whose presence will always be felt here, right? For what he did for the club, how many years he was here, the memories he’s created, the relationships he’s created with all the people in the building,” defender Aaron Long said Thursday. “A piece of him will always be here. With that being said this is football and rosters change and players move on. So we’re very comfortable with where we are now and the new guys coming in.”

LAFC, second in the Western Conference standings, meets the conference-leading Galaxy on Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in a game that could go a long way toward determining home-field advantage for the playoffs. The Galaxy (15-6-7) have the second-best record in MLS and their four-point lead over LAFC in the conference race would swell to seven with five games left in the regular season. But LAFC (14-6-6), which has two games in hand on the Galaxy, could cut the margin to a point with a fourth-straight win in the cross-town derby.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.