Galaxy coach Greg Vanney admitted that he’s going to have to make a decision regarding the goalkeeper position.

John McCarthy, 32, who anchored the team last year, is back and in the final year of his contrac.t Novak Micovic, 23, who was the No. 2 last year, is back. Brady Scott, 25, had his contract option picked up and he returns. In an offseason move, the Galaxy signed JT Marcinkowski, 27, to a two-year contract through 2026 with an option.

“That’s a lot of keepers,” Vanney said. “We’ll see. Again, it’s a new season, so it’s a bit of a competition there.

“We obviously know what J-Mac (John McCarthy) brings to the equation, because he was excellent last year and doing the job we needed him to do. Novak is a guy that we believe in his upside and his potential, so we want to continue to see what his growth looks like. JT brings another guy with experience. He’s kind of on a bounce-back off of a tough couple of years of rehabilitation.

“We will see how preseason plays out, how everybody is doing through the course of the preseason and I figure I’m going to have to make some tough decisions on who’s in the net and then will we see how everything plays out around that.”

Marcinkowski was San Jose’s No. 1 goalkeeper in 2021 and 2022. He made just 13 appearances in 2023, eventually undergoing multi-ligament repair and reconstruction surgery on his right knee. He missed all of 2024. Scott didn’t make a first-team appearance. His playing time (28 games) came in MLS Next Pro with Galaxy II/Ventura County FC.

Joveljic moved out

The Galaxy moved another piece of their championship-winning team Saturday, with forward Dejan Joveljic going to Sporting Kansas City for $4 million.

It’s the first trade in the league under the new MLS initiative allowing clubs to trade for cash within the league. According to the league, the trade-for-cash initiative: “creates additional opportunities for top players to remain within MLS, while further incentivizing player development and creating more pathways for MLS clubs to generate revenue on player movement.”

Joveljic, who scored 21 goals across all competitions last season, joined the Galaxy late in the 2021 season under the U-22 Initiative on a 4 1/2-year contract from Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.

This upcoming season was his last under contract and the last that he could be classified under the U-22 initiative, meaning his salary cap hit was going to be higher. Joveljic earned $683,750 last season. He will sign a new contract with SKC through 2027 with an option for 2028.

Recently, it was reported that Mexican club Tigres had set their sights on Joveljic and were preparing a $5 million move.

He scored 12 goals in his first full season (2022), but fell back to just six in 2023. He put everything together last season, including six goals in the championship run for the Galaxy.

The Galaxy have been working this offseason to relieve some of their salary cap pressure, with the trades of defender Jalen Neal (CF Montreal), midfielders Gaston Brugman (Nashville SC) and Mark Delgado (LAFC).

“I’m very much a Murphy’s Law kind of guy, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong,” Galaxy general manager Will Kuntz said of teams looking to purchase his club’s talent. “Our job is to prepare for everything. For every player to be gone … what does it mean if he leaves now, the summer or next year? You have to be prepared for all potential scenarios.”

Lucas Sanabria on the way

Or that’s what he said on his Instagram account Thursday. The 25-year-old midfielder from Nacional in Uruguay’s top division has been a Galaxy target for weeks.

Kuntz said last week he was hopeful things would get done “sooner rather than later.” It appears sooner is the answer.

Nacional already posted their goodbye to Sanabria, saying that the Galaxy are paying a $6 million-plus transfer fee. As of Thursday, the Galaxy said the move was yet to be finalized.

Preseason games

The Galaxy open their four-game preseason schedule Wednesday at Coachella Valley against Austin FC (11 a.m.), followed by Charlotte (10 a.m. Feb. 9), Minnesota United (11 a.m. Feb. 12) and Chicago (noon Feb. 15).