Ahead of the Hell Is Real derby match on Saturday, the Columbus Crew world was struck with breaking news regarding a major front-office role that is soon to be vacant. According to Tom Bogert and Paul Tenorio of The Athletic, Los Angeles Football Club is set to hire Crew scouting director Neil McGuinness.
McGuinness is known to be the talent scout behind the signings of Lucas Zelarayan, Cucho Hernandez, Diego Rossi, and Darlington Nagbe for the Crew, as well as Celtic FC signing Virgil van Dijk while with the Scottish Premier League side.
McGuinness joined the Black & Gold in 2019 as the Director of Scouting and Player Recruitment.
Before joining the Crew, McGuinness worked for the Qatar Football Association from 2015- 2018 as a Senior Player Recruiter, primarily responsible for the recruitment and identification of players to represent the Qatar National Team. He also worked as a scout at the Qatar Aspire Academy whilst serving as a consultant to teams across Europe’s top leagues including Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
“Neil is a tremendous person and a talented executive who possesses a keen knowledge of our sport and what it takes to succeed at the highest level,” said Tim Bezbatchenko.
“For more than five years Neil has been instrumental in developing managing our Club’s process for identifying players who possess specific characteristics to match our team’s needs and ultimately acquirinfg those talents. We are incredibly grateful for Neil’s efforts to help us win multiple MLS Cups in the past four years, and we wish him well in his new role with LAFC.
The move to LAFC will see McGuinness as their No. 2, according to Bogert and Tenorio, working just under Chief Soccer Officer and Co-President John Thorrington.
McGuinness became the front-runner for the role, after reportedly beating out Andy Howe of Newcastle United from the English Premier League.
While with the Crew, McGuinness secured two MLS Cups (2020 and 2023) and watched the aforementioned Crew players he recruited help their team get to the Concacaf Champions Cup final against Pachuca in a few weeks time.
Columbus currently sits in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, with LAFC holding the seventh-place spot in the West. Columbus also defeated LAFC by a 2-1 scoreline in the 2023 MLS Cup Final.
LAFC will have a busy summer, with French forward Olivier Giroud set to join the 2023 MLS Cup runner-ups during the summer transfer window.
The Black & Gold will face LAFC in an MLS Cup rematch on July 13, 2024 at BMO Field.
Massive Report will have more when information becomes available.
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