Heads were turned when Los Angeles Football Club’s lineup for their El Trafico game against the LA Galaxy dropped on Friday evening, as club captain Laurent Ciman was not only not starting, but wasn’t even in the 18 for the match.

Initial rumors emerged pregame that the move occurred as a “coach’s decision,” not because of an injury.

For those that still have Laurent Ciman questions, I was just told by @LAFC PR that his absence from the bench was simply Bob Bradley’s decision. He wanted Silva and Zimmerman in the line-up, nothing else to it. Again, in refernece to my last tweet, Ciman is not hurt. #LAvLAFC — Delmy Barillas (@DelmyBarillas) August 25, 2018

But the story got much more spicy during the ESPN broadcast. During the first half, Adrian Healey and Taylor Twellman brought up the Belgian defender’s absence on the night, with Twellman revealing some potentially huge news:

For those of you at home, this is the news about the 18. There’s been rumors about Ciman receiving offers from other teams around the world. And Bradley felt like he wasn’t focused enough and [not having him available is] the risk you take not having him on the bench.

So there’s a couple things to parse out here:

LAFC could sell Ciman very soon, maybe before this season ends. Ciman is “not focused enough” according to Bob Bradley, raising the possibility he wants to leave. Bradley was possibly so nervous about Ciman’s mentality for the big rivalry game that he didn’t even put him in the 18.

Seems like there’s much more to the story, maybe the above is true and maybe it isn’t. We’ll see if more information emerges on what might be a pretty sticky story tonight and beyond, and of course we’ll keep you posted.

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