LA Galaxy Sign Costa Rican Defender Giancarlo Gonzalez

The 31-year-old Gonzalez joined Palermo in 2014 and moved to Bologna nearly two years ago.

CARSON, Calif. (AP) – The LA Galaxy have signed Costa Rican defender Giancarlo Gonzalez.

The Galaxy announced the move Thursday for Gonzalez, who had been in Italy's Serie A since 2014.

The 31-year-old Gonzalez joined Palermo in 2014 and moved to Bologna nearly two years ago. Before that, he played 17 games for the Columbus Crew in 2014 in his only prior MLS experience.

Gonzalez also has appeared in two World Cups for Costa Rica.

The LA Galaxy trade $400,000 in TAM to get Orlando City's No. 2 place in the allocation order, then trade that spot and a first-round '20 SuperDraft pick to Toronto FC for the No. 1 place in the allocation order so they can sign Giancarlo Gonzalez, who returns to MLS from Bologna pic.twitter.com/TE0NnqeQrI

— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) April 11, 2019

After missing the playoffs in the past two seasons, the five-time MLS champion Galaxy are off to a strong start under new coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto. LA is 4-1-0 and in third place in the Western Conference heading into a home match against Philadelphia on Saturday night.