Hirving Lozano is finally set to make his 2026 MLS debut in Southern California, just not with the team fans may have expected.
The LA Galaxy signed the Mexican winger on loan from San Diego FC for the remainder of the season, the clubs announced Friday, August 7. There is an option for the Galaxy to make the move permanent, and the 31-year-old will fill one of the Galaxy’s designated player slots.
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Lozano, SDFC’s marquee signing as the team joined the league in 2025, scored nine goals and added 10 assists in 27 regular season matches. He also bagged two goals and an assist in four playoff matches.
Yet, after reported tension between Lozano and SDFC staff including manager Mikey Varas because of lineup decisions, sporting director Tyler Heaps said in January that the club, “communicated to Hirving and his representatives that he will not be part of the sporting plans moving forward.”
The winter window closed without a transfer, despite rumors of suitors in his native Mexico and in Europe, where he played with PSV and Napoli, and Lozano trained apart from the first-team squad for the first half of the year. Lozano makes $9.33 million guaranteed, according to MLS Players Association numbers this season, and many clubs balked at matching those wages.
Now, he’ll look to earn first-team minutes with a Galaxy team that recently bid farewell to Gabriel Pec. The winger returned to his native Brazil this summer after forming part of the 2024 MLS Cup winning team that has struggled to match the form without the injured Riqui Puig.
A speedy wide attacker who developed in the Pachuca system and won both Liga MX and the Concacaf Champions Cup with Tuzos before moving to the Netherlands, Lozano rose to international fame in 2018. He scored the winning goal in Mexico’s win over Germany to open group play. He was back on the El Tri roster for the 2022 World Cup, playing the majority of minutes as the team crashed out at the group stage for the first time in decades.
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Mexico manager Javier Aguirre appeared ready to consider Lozano for the 2026 World Cup squad, bringing the winger in for fall 2025 friendly matches after a long absence. But the lack of playing time meant Lozano’s last call-up was in November 2025, with his last pro game appearance coming shortly after in a November 29, 2025 playoff defeat to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Now, Lozano will have the chance to impress a new manager, LA’s Greg Vanney, trying to once again become a factor in MLS and work his way back into the picture for the Mexico national team.
The Galaxy’s next match is an August 15 trip to Texas to meet the Houston Dynamo.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mexico winger Hirving Lozano’s San Diego FC impasse ends, on loan to Galaxy
