San Jose Earthquakes Revamp Roster with Blockbuster Signings Under Bruce Arena

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Earthquakes, fresh off a dismal 2023 Major League Soccer season, are making waves in the offseason with two high-profile signings under new head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena. The team, which finished last in the league with a 6-25-3 record and conceded a record 78 goals, has added Colombian striker Cristian “Chicho” Arango and Venezuelan forward Josef Martínez to bolster their attack.

“Clearly we were looking for some No. 9s, and I think we’ve been fortunate to get some of the best ones from the league out of the last five years or so,” Arena said during a preseason training session on Wednesday. “I think it’s a lot easier for players with experience in this league to move on to a new team and make that adjustment.”

Arango, who joined from Real Salt Lake, and Martínez, a free agent signing, bring a wealth of MLS experience and championship pedigree. Arango, a 2022 MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield winner with LAFC, scored 17 goals and provided 12 assists last season. Martínez, the 2018 MLS MVP and a former Atlanta United star, netted 14 goals across all competitions in 2024.

“We came here for a new project, we came here to win, we came here to change the minds of the guys who were here last year,” Martínez said. “We know it’s tough, but it’s step by step. Chicho, myself, Mark [Anthony-Kaye] — a lot of players have come here to win.”

The duo’s arrival signals a shift in ambition for the Earthquakes, who last won the MLS Cup in 2003. Arena, known for transforming struggling teams into contenders, is optimistic about the club’s potential. “We want to build a winning team and get back to that at San Jose,” he said. “Traditionally, if you go back to the start of the league, they’ve been one of the more successful teams in MLS in the early going. There’s no reason to believe that we can’t build a team back into that kind of position.”

However, Arena cautioned that the rebuild won’t happen overnight. “It’s early, just three days of preseason,” he said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Meanwhile, Real Salt Lake, Arango’s former club, faces a goal-scoring void after trading him to San Jose for $1.5 million in general allocation money. Sporting director Kurt Schmid acknowledged the move was driven by Arango’s desire for a fresh start. “He came to us at a point in the offseason and asked us to find a solution for him and his family,” Schmid said. “I thought we found a solution that was a best-case scenario for everybody.”

RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni believes the team can adapt tactically without Arango, who often operated outside the team’s preferred model. “Things morph,” Mastroeni said. “Now, Chicho is a special player and he makes goals, he outproduces his xG [expected goals] quite a bit. But how do we get [others] more productive?”

As the 2025 MLS season approaches, both San Jose and Real Salt Lake are navigating pivotal transitions. For the Earthquakes, the stakes are high as they aim to reclaim their former glory, while RSL seeks to fill the void left by their departed stars.