Joseph Paintsil has blamed Los Angeles Galaxy's poor season to the absence of Spanish midfielder Riqui Puig.
The former Barcelona star missed the 2025 season after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Puig sustained the long-term injury in the game against Seattle Sounders in the final of last season's West Conference playoff.
Paintsil, Puig and Gabriel Pec, famously known as the triple P, formed a formidable trio as LA Galaxy won the title last season.
However, the absence of Puig left the Galaxies in tatters, finishing the 2025 campaign in 14th position in the Western Conference and 26th overall.
“We lost a lot. We miss him. He's a key master player on the ball," said the Ghanaian winger. "He makes the decision for us, especially me and Ricky, me and Pec and also with Dian (phonetic), and now if Ricky was starting, there would be a little bit changes, because now it's just me and Pec, and if they know what we're capable of doing and they stop us, it's really easy and difficult for us to do whatever we have to do.
"But if we have Ricky on the board, he's always a guy who always makes a great decision by giving us assists and going solo and scoring. And so we really miss him this season. I think we just can't wait to be with him and just start the season with him and just feel the energy again.”
Paintsil ended the 2025 campaign with 10 goals and two assists in the MLS.
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