MLS national writer Sam Stejskal delivered a bombshell this morning.

Throughout the offseason there has been fierce speculation as to which of the four Designated Players would eventually have to depart. After Zlatan Ibrahimovic became the highest paid player in the league, it was assumed one of Jonathan dos Santos or Romain Alessandrini would have to restructure their contracts to remain in Los Angeles.

As it turns out, it may be the 6 million dollar man himself who takes a pay cut. From Sam’s piece:

The LA Galaxy are trying to restructure Giovani dos Santos’ contract so that he won’t count as a Designated Player in 2019, sources told MLSsoccer.com on Thursday. To do that, LA are attempting to convince dos Santos to take a new deal that will allow the club to buy his salary down with Targeted Allocation Money. That would require dos Santos to take a pay cut from the $6 million he made in 2018 to a maximum of $1.5 million, the ceiling for players who are eligible to be bought down with TAM. To compensate for the lost wages, the sources said that LA would extend dos Santos’ contract, which is currently set to expire at the end of this year.

Essentially since the LA Galaxy cannot buy Gio’s contract down with TAM, they are instead re-routing his lost wages in the form of an extension.

Will it work? We’ll keep you updated.