Per Athletic, in advanced talks. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/live-blogs/transfer-news-live-latest-updates/1gAvICrKb71l/
Copy and Pasting what I wrote about him a few weeks ago from two separate posts: Homegrown and clear 2nd Choice who won't cost much in wages and still has a lot of the same faults he did 12 years ago. I ended up watching a lot of LA Galaxy highlights when he joined them and took occasional glances at their SubReddit as I do have a soft spot for him and thought he could have had a stronger career than he's made for himself with his decision to leave Peterbrough for West Brom being unwise after his loan there from Reading. The general consensus was he's a just above average shot stopper who parried back into danger often, was weak in the air and distribution was slow but not too dangerous. He was decent at sweeping behind the defence. He was popular with fans as a character and personality for a long while even when his performances went from acceptable to poor over 2 Seasons which says a lot to his commitment. A lot of parrying shots back into danger than to a side, leading to needing a heroic double save or more often and likely, a goal. He's a League 1 goalkeeper who can still develop to a low end Championship keeper for me, which I suppose is the market we're fishing in. My view is he has a lot to like off the pitch more off the pitch than on it and wouldn't say no to a 2 year contract for him. Posted this on their SubReddit a few years back which got some interesting feedback from some of the now deleted accounts: https://www.reddit.com/r/LAGalaxy/s/K76i2o7PTG 2021 Johnathon Bond 2022 Jonathan Bond 2023 Jonathan Bond You can see a few interesting things from this. The first is his shot stopping got worse year on year. I'm unsure what would have caused this (LA Galaxy defence is not great so Bond was exposed a lot) as to if it was Bond underperformed or the defence allowing a lot of chances that Bond wasn't saving. Probably both. Interestingly his positioning was generally fine except in 2022 so it would indicate it was his diving / decision making in shot stopping situations. He's generally taken a fairly aggressive starting position to sweep except for 2023. This is good for teams that play a higher line as he will proactively deal with long balls behind. He took a lot of crosses vs the league average meaning he would generally relieve pressure on the defence so He would generally play the ball long than short often which correlated with a low pass danger percentage. Can't lose it close to goal if you punt long. His goalkeeper OBV (On the Ball Value) is poor meaning he generally does not help the team prevent goals, take crosses at key moments etc often enough. So he may make the less important catches, saves etc but in key moments he will more often than not be unable to influence the game reliably. As Statsbomb puts it "Think of it as an indicator of whether a goalkeeper is making a net positive contribution to their team or a net negative one." Perhaps a bit extreme as LA Galaxy were very porous but it's not a big surprise McCarthy has made a difference for them this year and Galaxy are now nearer the top of the table. Not the only reason by a long way bit part of it. Overall he'd be fine as a backup for our needs and level but he would not be a goalkeeper you want starting for an extended period for us based on what he does and doesn't do. As I wrote earlier there are things not necessarily captured in data that are concerns like his parrying but he also did a lot right behind the scenes and otherwise to still be a popular player with LA Galaxy fans and players which is very important for his likely role and indicates that although Bond ultimately failed to push them to the next level, he also was not perceived to be their weak link despite what data may suggest.
As a club in the modern era we are seemingly incapable of operating without an on-pitch prodigal son, so I guess with the quota theoretically exhausted going into this summer (as long as you don't count who is on the touchline) we simply had to take steps to rectify the situation, and Bondy came to the rescue.
Only if it meant Bachmann was leaving, which isn't going to happen. So it's probably just going to give the bloke more ammo to throw at the club.
Such a strange career, I had no idea he has been LA Galaxy's first choice keeper for the last 2 seasons. Prior to that he's only had 1 other season as a number one at Peterborough back in 2018. 31 years old... only 3 full seasons of football. That's some poor choices.
I see your prime Connery and raise you a Prime Samantha Bond. who is a Bond, was in bond but not a Bond girl. No idea who the bloke on the right is though.
