Seven seasons after its MLS debut, LAFC is beginning to show its age.

A team built around young, dynamic South Americans, including Brian Rodríguez, Diego Rossi, Diego Palacios, Francisco Ginella and José Cifuentes, had the youngest starting lineup in the league in 2020. It was a relatively new approach to roster building in a league that had long been mocked as a retirement home for big-name European stars.

And it was wildly successful, with LAFC winning two Supporters’ Shields and reaching two MLS Cup finals and two CONCACAF Champions League finals in six years.

Those five South Americans are all gone, sold for nearly $13 million in transfer fees, and this year’s LAFC roster is the 26th-oldest in the 29-team league. It will grow even older in July when Olivier Giroud, a World Cup champion with France, joins the team on a designated player contract 10 weeks shy of his 38th birthday.

Yet for general manager John Thorrington, the maturing of the team isn’t so much a change of strategy as it is a seizing of opportunities.

“[It’s] adapting to the current climate,” said Thorrington, who certainly knows what he’s doing since he’s the most successful general manager in MLS since 2018.

Changes in MLS budget rules, such as the U-22 initiative, and increases in targeted allocation money have given Thorrington the freedom to spend in different ways. So when Giorgio Chiellini, the 38-year-old captain of the Italian national team, and Gareth Bale, the 32-year-old Welsh captain, became available midway through the 2022 season, LAFC signed both.

Five months later it won an MLS Cup.

Both players have since retired, replaced on this season’s roster by Hugo Lloris, 37, the former captain of the French national team whose 20 World Cup appearances are the most ever by a goalkeeper. Lloris signed for $350,000, less than what 25 MLS keepers will earn this season, a bargain Thorrington said he couldn’t pass up.

Unlike Lloris, Giroud isn’t coming cheap, receiving a designated-player contract that runs through 2025, with an option for 2026. He was reportedly paid $4.76 million in his final season in Milan. Yet unlike Lloris, who didn’t play in his final seven months at Tottenham, Giroud is at the top of his game, with his 14 goals for AC Milan tied for fourth in Italy’s Serie A with a game to play.

“It’s not as though we have abandoned this idea that we are going to invest in young talent that will help us win here and then sell them. That’s a part of what we’ve always done,” said Thorrington, whose team is 6-4-3, good for fifth in the MLS Western Conference standings heading into Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup round-of-16 match against Loudoun United. “Are you a player-development club or are you going for championships? We don’t see those as mutually exclusive concepts. We are both.”

LAFC’s roster is indeed a mix of young and old. Eight players are under the age of 23, among them teenager David Martínez, the sixth-youngest player to appear in an MLS game this season. Giroud’s arrival after this summer’s European Championship, will give LAFC eight players over 31, among them 39-year-old striker Kei Kamara, the league’s oldest player.

Thorrington is especially high on Martínez, a Venezuelan forward three months past his 18th birthday, while 22-year-old forwards Mateusz Bogusz and Cristian Olivera are tied for second on the team in scoring with four goals each.

As for established players such as Chiellini, Bale, Lloris and Giroud choosing to end their careers with LAFC, Thorrington said that’s a product of the young team’s success, something the team had to build before it could be exploited.

“At the beginning we were a concept,” he said. “Now that people see and feel what LAFC is, those opportunities from top players in Europe with interest in coming here have certainly increased. For us, signing players at economic terms that make sense for us to help us achieve our objectives of winning and also help our young players develop by showing them the right example and what it means to be a pro, that still fits well within our strategic aims as a club.”

When that door opens, more than one player can walk through. Consider that the Arizona-based Elite Athletes Agency, whose founder Jerome Meary was in the social media photo that announced Giroud’s signing last week, also has ties to several European-born players, among them Lloris, Denis Bouanga, Stipe Biuk, Filip Krastev and Maxime Chanot, all of whom have played for LAFC.

Four of those players — Giroud, Bouanga, Lloris and Chanot — were born in France. Lloris, the French national team leader in caps, and Giroud, the team’s all-time leader in goals, played together in the last two World Cup finals, winning the title in 2018. Certainly they all spoke to one another before they wound up together in L.A.

That has fueled rumors another Frenchman, Antoine Griezmann, could be in LAFC’s future. Griezmann, 33, is under contract with Atlético Madrid through 2026 but has long expressed a desire to finish his career in MLS.

Part of that desire was to reunite with former Real Sociedad teammate Carlos Vela, who hasn’t played anywhere since his contract with LAFC expired in December. And that raises a question: If LAFC has money and a roster spot to wager on a soon-to-be-38 Giroud, who is a great player but an unknown quality in MLS, why doesn’t it have the same for Vela, 35, a former league MVP, the single-season scoring leader and the team’s captain through its first six seasons?

Thorrington said he has had discussions with Vela’s agent, but the talks have so far been fruitless.

“It’s been a bit of a frustrating process trying to find a match between what we could afford to do and what we felt like we needed as a club on the field,” he said. “We, unfortunately, have not been able to find that balance with Carlos.”

When it comes to mixing young players with old, however, LAFC has gotten that balance just right.

An angry Ricky Stenhouse Jr. confronted Kyle Busch, then punched him following the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday night at North Wilkesboro Speedway, setting off a brief fight between teams in the garage.

Stenhouse made an aggressive move on the opening lap of the race and Busch ended up in the wall, which led to Busch intentionally crashing Stenhouse and eliminating him on Lap 2. But North Wilkesboro is an old-school track with no exit tunnel, so Stenhouse had nothing to do but wait for Busch until the race was over.

Sure enough, Stenhouse was standing by Busch’s hauler as the driver of the No. 8 car approached. After a short conversation, Stenhouse swung and set off a fight. Team members then got involved.

Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into an altercation following the NASCAR All-Star Race 😳

🎥 @Jordan_Bianchi pic.twitter.com/86EA503lCw

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 20, 2024

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“You hit the fence yourself,” Stenhouse said, according to footage from The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi. “I didn’t touch you!”

When Busch disputed that, Stenhouse’s eyes widened and he added: “I did not touch you. Not once.”

“We all hit each other,” Busch said.

“No we — you hit the fence and then you hit me,” Stenhouse said.

Busch then said that wasn’t true again, and Stenhouse swung his fist and appeared to hit Busch in the face.

After the initial contact, Stenhouse’s dad — Ricky Stenhouse Sr. — also went after Busch and swung at him.

“Dad! Dad!” Stenhouse Jr. said after being knocked to the ground, then asked a crew member: “Can you get my dad?”

Stenhouse Sr. and Busch angrily tussled and grabbed each other for a few moments before they were pulled apart.

“Bring it! I don’t give a f—,” Busch then yelled at Stenhouse Jr. “I suck just as bad as you! Let’s go!”

Busch was referring to his disappointing season so far and a 10th-place finish on Sunday night. Stenhouse is also having struggles this year after winning the Daytona 500 last season.

Required reading

(Photo: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)

Austin Maddox, a former Boston Red Sox pitcher, was arrested in Florida on Monday as part of an underage sex sting. 

Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said Maddox was one of 27 people who were arrested as part of an operation that spanned across multiple agencies. 

Maddox and the others arrested are being accused of soliciting sex over the internet from those believed to be children, according to officials. 

Maddox, 33, intends to fight the allegations, according to his defense attorney James Hill. He will be entering a not guilty plea should formal charges be filed against him. 

Maddox is being charged with four felony counts, which include traveling to meet after using a computer to solicit a child. Bail has been set at $300,000 for Maddox, who is being held in jail. 

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The sex sting operation saw Maddox communicating with an undercover agent who pretended to be an underage girl on April 28. According to the arrest report, Maddox said he wanted to have sex with the girl (the undercover agent), though it was made known to him that she was 14. 

After agreeing to a pre-determined location, authorities met Maddox to arrest him. 

Austin Maddox #62 of the Boston Red Sox throws during a team workout on February 15, 2018 at Fenway South in Fort Myers, Florida. (Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Maddox, who was born in Jacksonville, played just 13 games in MLB in 2017. He threw 17.1 innings, giving up 13 hits but allowing just one earned run over that span for a 0.52 ERA. 

But Maddox didn’t last long in the bigs, as shoulder injuries derailed his stay. 

He was a standout at the University of Florida during his college days, as he would end up being drafted by Boston in the third round of the 2012 MLB Draft. However, things didn’t pan out professionally, as he spent most of his time in the minors. 

He last pitched in 2018 for three different teams, including Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket. 

Austin Maddox #71 of the Boston Red Sox looks on before game one of the American League Division Series against the Houston Astros on October 5, 2017 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. (Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Maddox was released by the team in 2019. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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