No more loans: LA Galaxy complete full acquisition of Juninho

I’m going to miss Galaxy fans’ annual winter panic.

Each of the last two around Decembers, Juninho’s flown back to Sao Paulo, his fans in Los Angeles left behind to wonder whether their starting central midfielder will return next season.

At first they’re optimistic, but as winter progresses without a quick resulting they start to worry. Shock, denial, sandess - the starts are all there. By January, fans have convinced themselves they’re ready to move on, assuaging themselves with missives like “Marcelo Sarvas is fine” or “maybe Michael Stephens is ready to step up.”

By the time training camp rolls around, they’ve starting believing their own lies.

But with Tuesday’s news that Juninho’s completed a full move to Los Angeles, that whole game’s over. The 24-year-old midfielder is now fully on the Galaxy’s books after leaving São Paulo for good.

He announced the move on his various social media instances. As posted to LAGalaxy.com:

“I would like to thank Sao Paulo Futebol Clube for these 10 years I was with the Club. The soccer player that I am today I owe it to you. Thank you for shaping me as the player and [sic] the person I am today. Things change, we have to make choices in life and I’m sure that choosing Galaxy was the right choice. It’s a team that always believed in my soccer, that gave me the opportunity to return and show what I have to offer and come back to my fans who have always been by my side. I’m coming home, to our home! To the great team Los Angeles Galaxy.”

The move isn’t so much surprising as it is reassuring. We don’t have to go through this song-and-dance again. We won’t have to listen to the waverings of our one Galaxy friend.

Will he? Won’t he? Oh, shut up! Of course he will!

Juninho will be back. He always comes back. And now, there’s no reason to doubt. He’s officially a full Galaxy player.