The transfer window is closed and the ink has dried on the transfer and loan agreements for four new LAFC players: a goal-dangerous forward with a Bayern pedigree, last year’s breakout star in Sweden’s top division, and two young South Americans whose performances have earned them a big leap north. The key now, said John Thorrington, LAFC President of Soccer Operations, is getting them all in the building and on the pitch. With the exception of Armindo Sieb [above], the Bayern attacker who scored in his home debut at BMO Stadium on September 9, LAFC’s new additions are either in transit or awaiting their visas or other international approvals.
“What I would say is a challenge at this stage of the season is … the time it takes to sign a foreign player, get him registered, and then acclimated with the group," Thorrington said. "That's more of the challenge that we're facing rather than [whether] a player is available.”
“What I am really excited about looking ahead,” Thorrington continued, “when you think about the team you're seeing now and the team we will have in, let's call it three weeks, you're adding Igor Jesus and Sergi Palencia” - two LAFC regulars who are returning from injury – “you're adding Vazquez, you're adding Walta, you're adding Thayllon. I think that is a really, really strong group that we're excited to see.”
ARMINDO SIEB
- age: 23 (Feb. 17, 2003)
- permanent transfer through 2028-29
- Halle, Germany
- Instagram: armindo.10
Known as: creative shooter and chance generator who rose from German street soccer through the professional ladder, all the way to Bayern Munich.
Sieb was born in Halle (in east-central Germany, near Leipzig) and grew up in the working-class Silberhöhe district. “Silberhöhe was my home until I was ten or eleven years old,” Sieb said (in German) to RB Leipzig’s website in 2024. “I grew up there, it shaped me. I feel pride in where I come from. Maybe not many people understand what it's like to grow up there. But we made it work.”
Sieb grew up playing in käfige (cages), fenced-in concrete or turf street soccer courts in German neighborhoods. Käfige are the heart of German street football, known locally as a Bolzplatz.
“In the cage, on the pitch, there's no pressure,” he said. “You can lose the game, that's okay. So we could try any trick we wanted.” A fan of Neymar, Sieb’s favorite skill was the “rainbow” made famous by the legendary Brazilian.
Sieb advanced from street football to RB Leipzig Academy, where he was influenced by German coaching great Ralf Rangnick (who had previously coached future LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo in the Bundesliga). “I am extremely grateful to Ralf Rangnick,” Sieb has said of the manager of the Austrian team that made the knockout rounds in the FIFA World Cup 2026. “He took me aside and guided me when things weren't going well. He believed in me.”
Sieb departed RB Leipzig, and after three successful years at Hoffenheim he chose Bayern Munich from among several suitors.
In October 2020, Sieb became the third-youngest Bayern player to appear in the DFB-Pokal (the 90-year-old German cup competition) at the age of 17 years and 241 days, trailing only Bayern prodigy Jamal Musiala and Real Madrid’s David Alaba. In his debut, Sieb came on for Thomas Müller (now with Vancouver).
Sieb played alongside LAFC midfielder Timmy Tillman at Greuther Furth in the 2022-2023 Bundesliga-2 season.
Max Eberl, Bayern Munich’s Sporting Director, called Sieb (in German), “a player with great potential. More of a smaller forward, but a powerful one. He certainly knows what he wants. He has a healthy dose of confidence, not too much.”
As a nod to a journey that began on the playgrounds of Silberhöhe district, Sieb wears a tattoo on his right shoulder that reads: Just a ball and a dream.
SERGIO VÁSQUEZ
- age: 22 (Jan. 4, 2004)
- permanent transfer through 2029-30
- Machala, Ecuador
- Instagram: sergio\_vasquez.04
Known as: small-town midfield prodigy who played for his neighborhood club for half his life and is now making the leap overseas.
Nicknamed “Chuleta," Vasquez joined the youth academy of Orense SC, based in his hometown, when he was 11 years old. He and the young club – founded in 2009 – grew up together.
Vasquez admires the playing style and persona of Sergio Buquets, the former Spain, Barcelona, and Inter Miami midfielder. Vasquez’s pregame rituals include listening to music and visualization.
Vasquez has logged most of his professional minutes as a holding midfielder but has the qualities of an attacking midfielder in the number-8 or number-10 mold. He earned Orense’s “Canterano Del Año 2025” award (Homegrown Player of the Year) in 2025, after rising through Orense's cantera or youth academy.
Vasquez made 26 starts in Ecuador’s Serie A this year, averaging 87 minutes per outing. His teammate at Orense was Angel Mena, the 38-year-old veteran of Ecuador’s national team who starred for Club León of Liga MX when that club faced LAFC in Concacaf competition in 2020 and 2023.
Vasquez aspires to play for Ecuador’s senior men’s national team, which has featured three former LAFC players.
Defender Diego Palacios (who began his career with Aucas in Ecuador's Serie A) and midfielder José Cifuentes (Universidad Católica, América Quito) played 204 combined MLS regular-season matches for LAFC from 2019 to 2023, and joined midfielder Jhegson Méndez on LAFC’s 2022 MLS Cup championship side. All three represented Ecuador at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
John Thorrington: “Vasquez’s intensity, versatility, and quality on the ball align well with how we want to play.”
LEO WALTA
- age: 23 (June 24, 2003)
- loan through end of 2026 (with option to make loan permanent)
- Vantaa, Finland
- Instagram: leowalta
Known as: a dynamic playmaker and long-distance scoring threat who made a major splash in Scandinavia (16 goals, 3 assists in 2025) before securing a move to England then to LAFC.
Walta started his career in the youth ranks with HJK Helsinki, joining the Finnish club as an eight-year-old. He trialed with PSV Eindhoven and Bayern Munich as a teenager before joining FC Nordsjælland at age 16.
“I think my biggest strengths are on the ball, with my passing and shooting,” Walta told Swansea City earlier this year. At LAFC he projects as a playmaking midfielder in the “number 10” profile, with line-breaking passing skills, instinctive space-finding between the lines, and adaptability across midfield positions.
In two breakout seasons with IK Sirius, Walta totaled 23 goals and six assists in only 59 league appearances. His 16 goals in ‘25 set the IK Sirius record for most goals in a single season.
Joined Swansea on loan from IK Sirius in February of this year before moving to Swansea in July.
Made 12 total appearances in a Swansea shirt, his most memorable moment coming when he scored on a brilliant, 25-yard free kick against Charlton Athletic on May 2, 2026.
Walta earned six caps with the Finland national team’s senior side in 2024-2025, contributing an assist against England in the UEFA Nations League.
Swansea City head coach Vitor Matos has cited Walta's "creativity and ability to play in small spaces, the technical level he has … he is versatile in terms of how he can play and contribute, he is a smart player with an ability to find the right passes and actions in the final third.”
THAYLLON ROBERTH
- age: 20 (Aug. 18, 2006)
- loan through June 2027 (with club option to buy)
- Paço do Lumiar, Brazil
- Instagram: thayllonroberth
Known as: an internationally coveted winger from a football hotbed in southern Brazil, who just turned 20 and has the instincts and on-ball quality to support an MLS Cup playoffs push.
Born and raised in Porto Alegre, a traditional soccer hub, Thayllon (TAY-lon) gravitates toward playing on the right side and in central areas, and attacking with his preferred left foot.
Moved through the academy ranks at Bahia de Feira and Ska Brasil before securing a move to Avaí FC, where he broke through to the senior team, becoming a key figure in Campeonato Brasileiro Série B and securing a move to the U.S. by his 20th birthday.
Inverted winger with a low center of gravity that enables him to change direction rapidly and in tight spaces. A foul magnet and direct dribbler capable of sudden bursts of speed, Thayllon tallied three goals and one assist in Brazil’s Série B just prior to his move to LAFC.
Thorrington: “Thayllon is an example, as is Vasquez, of two young South Americans that we believe will have a really bright future here at LAFC, immediately and in the long term.”
Thorrington: “He had interest from everywhere. He's a young, talented Brazilian, and we know how popular they are as exports into Europe and into the highest leagues. What he saw was a path for himself to eventually get there, [and] that we were the right next step for him, like we were for David [Martinez].”
