Friday was Los Angeles Football Club’s final practice before the team flies to Mexico to face Leon in its CONCACAF Champions League debut, but before its departure, the club had a new player to formally introduce.

After days of speculation, LAFC announced the signing of Bradley Wright-Phillips on Friday morning. The south England native began his career with Manchester City in 2004 and spent his early years playing in the Premier League and EFL Championship, England’s second division. Wright-Phillips joined the New York Red Bulls of MLS in 2013, and he was their primary goal scorer between 2014-2018.

“We’re excited to add Bradley, who is obviously a proven goal scorer. He was here for a few days, and everybody got a great sense of how he trains and mixes with his teammates everyday,” LAFC head coach Bob Bradley told the media after practice Friday. “We are excited to add an experienced number nine that we know is a real threat around the goal.”

Wright-Phillips won the Golden Boot as MLS’ top goal-scorer in 2014 and 2016. His 27 goals in 2014 set the MLS record at the time, though that title now belongs to his new teammate Carlos Vela. The 35-year-old Wright-Phillips is the top European goal-scorer in MLS history, having scored 108 goals in 195 MLS appearances for the Red Bulls. Knee and groin injuries limited the forward to two goals and one assist in 29 appearances in 2019.

Wright-Phillips was in training camp earlier in the preseason to give the club an opportunity to assess his health. He still required surgery for a sports hernia, but he has made progress since the end of the 2019 campaign and is confident that he will regain his previous form once he is recovered. LAFC was aware of Wright-Phillips’ medical condition throughout the negotiations the club had prior to the signing.

“As soon as I heard LAFC was interested, it was a no-brainer. They’re the best, and I’m not just saying that. You look at last year, their form, how they played, the players they have. It’s easy to see,” Wright-Phillips said. “I’m a player right now, with the season I had last year, with a lot to prove. It makes it a little bit easier coming here.”

Wright-Phillips’ signing is official, that doesn’t mean he’ll be out on the field for LAFC against Leon on Tuesday. Given Wright-Phillips’ current health status, his signing does not represent an immediate replacement for Adama Diomande while the Norwegian forward recovers from the broken bone in his right foot.

“Bradley (Wright-Phillips) is going to take a little bit of time. He needed sports hernia surgery, we knew that throughout the discussions. As soon as we got things squared away, the first order of business was the procedure. It went really well. I’d expect that he is now about six weeks away,” Bradley said. “It’s a signing that we were excited about, knowing that we’d need to give it a little bit of time early on, but once he’s back and pain-free, we think it’s going to work well.”

Phillips is confident that once he is match fit, he will be much closer to the player from 2014-2018 than what he was during his final season with the Red Bulls. One factor on his side is the fact that the Red Bulls play a pressing style similar to LAFC’s; his familiarity with LAFC’s style of play gives both Wright-Phillips and Bradley confidence that he will fit snuggly into the club’s high-powered offense when healthy. LAFC demands more of its forwards than just offensive production, but Phillips said he’s looking forward to rising to the challenge set by the coaching staff.

“I hate just being known as a goal-scorer. I’ve always thought there’s a lot more to my game than just tapping the ball in. I think that’s what people see, but anyone who has played with me knows that I try,” Wright-Phillips said. “I bring a little more than just scoring goals, and I’m not afraid of work. I like getting the ball back when we lose it. It’s been drilled into me the last six years. I’ll have no problems with that.”