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Las Vegas Lights FC has added another talented piece to its steadily improving offensive attack, with 20-year-old midfielder James Murphy joining the club on loan from Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Football Club.
The Scotch Plains, N.J., native is eligible to play for Lights FC immediately.
He joins a wave of impactful midseason acquisitions, including fellow midfielders Zach Mathers and Raul Mendiola, plus strikers Daniel Guzmán Jr. and Omar Salgado, who will both be eligible to play following the July 10 opening of the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Summer Transfer Window.
Mathers and Mendiola have already had an early impact on the club, and Murphy has the pedigree to be able to do the same.
Murphy came up through New Jersey’s Players Development Academy, and played for the United States U-20 Men’s National Team in 2015.
Murphy’s professional career began overseas, when he signed with Sheffield Wednesday in 2016. This year, he officially signed with LAFC ahead of its inaugural MLS season on March 2, and made his debut on the pitch for the club on May 22 in a friendly against visiting Borussia Dortmund of Germany’s Bundesliga.
“James Murphy is a talented offensive player with a good background,” Lights FC Head Coach Isidro Sánchez said. “He can help us, and he has a big opportunity in Las Vegas to demonstrate what he can do at the professional level.”
Murphy begins training full-time this week with Lights FC, with the club facing a crucial stretch of road matches. The first of those challenges for Lights FC (4-5-4, 16 points) away from Las Vegas comes on Sunday at 2 p.m., as the club travels to face Swope Park Rangers (7-4-4, 25 points), who it defeated at Cashman Field on March 31, 2-1.
Lights FC next returns home to Downtown Las Vegas on Saturday, July 7, when it will take on Saint Louis FC at 8 p.m. on “Salute to Service” night, honoring our veterans, current military and first responders. Tickets are on sale at LightsFC.com, starting at just $15.
