THE LOS ANGELES GALAXY are beyond loaded—Bruce Arena may have assembled the most talented team in Major League Soccer history. Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane, Giovani Dos Santos, Omar Gonzalez, and Gyasi Zardes are the biggest names on the squad, but this franchise always seems to find hidden gems that shine almost as bright as the superstars.

Twenty-two-year-old Sebastian Lletget is one such player, a midfielder acquired earlier this year from West Ham United. After years of toiling—and often excelling—for West Ham United’s reserve team, Lletget made the decision to sign for the Galaxy to get his professional career on track.

So far this decision has worked out for both the player and club. In 10 leagues games this season the San Francisco native has found the back of the net six times, playing an important role of driving the Galaxy’s offense. He has shown composure in front of goal and possesses the sort of final-third creativity that is only going to help the Galaxy as the playoffs draw near.

“It’s been fantastic,” Lletget told American Soccer Now. “I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for so long. My career was at a standstill for a while. I was waiting for the breakout to show what I can do. I am just thankful for the club for giving me the opportunity.”

Lletget’s performances have impressed not just fans and coaches, but some of his high-profile teammates as well.

“He has got some quality,” Robbie Keane said. “He is very, very comfortable on the ball, sometimes he just has to learn how to get rid of the ball quicker—which I’ve spoken to him about. He is young, he is learning, he is great, he is scoring a few goals which is very important to us.

“He is a lad that listens, and he has already been a big addition and going forward he will be.”

During his time with West Ham United, where he joined the club’s highly touted academy in 2010, Lletget was once considered a top prospect. But every time he seemed on the verge of breaking into the first team, manager Sam Allardyce would elect to go with bigger, stronger, or more athletic players.

The frustrating part for Lletget, however, was that West Ham was never willing to let him go on loan. There were times that the club indicated a loan would be an option but then Lletget would enjoy a string of strong training sessions in preseason or solid performances for the club’s U-21 team. As a result, he remained at West Ham because Allardyce thought Lletget might end up being a first-team option.

Lletget ended up making the bench for West Ham in five Premier League games, but he never got into a match. His only appearance for West Ham’s first team came on May 1, 2014, in a 5-0 FA Cup loss to Nottingham Forest.

“It was never the club,” Lletget said of West Ham. “The club was great and I had a great time. It happens all the time with players and management doesn’t have certain players in their plans for whatever reason. Everybody has different opinions on different players. That’s just the stuff we have to deal with as players.

“You just feel stumped,” he added. “Players are under contract and they do what they have to do. But I think everything just happened for a reason. I just have to learn. It built my character.”

Lletget took a circuitous route to the Galaxy. Two years earlier, Lletget had an opportunity come to MLS and play for Chivas USA but he declined. Despite options to remain in Europe with either trials or offers from clubs in the Netherlands, Spain, and elsewhere, the California native came home.

Part of the Galaxy's appeal was Kenny Arena, who has been on his father’s staff since 2014. The younger Arena was very familiar with Lletget, dating back to his days as an assistant coach at UCLA when he tried—and failed—to recruit Lletget to play for the Bruins.

Kenny Arena persuaded his father to bring in Lletget to train with the Galaxy during the club’s preseason tour in Ireland. Lletget was unable to play in matches but he did impress in practices. The Galaxy wanted to sign Lletget but had to wait for the new rules of the collective bargaining agreement to go into effect since the older rules required all former U.S. youth national team players to go through an allocation. The new rules provided that clubs could file discovery claim on certain players.

At first the New England Revolution had a discovery claim on Lletget but the rules, which were updated in May, allowed for the Galaxy pay the Revolution $50,000 in allocation money to forego its discovery claim.

At long last, after a five-month process of trying to sign Lletget, the Galaxy finally got its player.

“I knew Kenny Arena and Bruce,” Lletget said of his decision. “They made me feel wanted and that’s something I haven’t had for a while. They showed me how I was going to fit into the team, and it felt like I was more ready to come in than any other club. That really helped in my decision.

“Here, it’s fantastic. We have a great group of guys on and off the field and it is showing. The talent is great.”

Lletget has played like one of the better midfielders in the North American top flight. In the Galaxy’s 3-1 win over Colorado on Saturday, Lletget’s performance which included a 56^th minute equalizing goal earned him a spot on the MLS team of the week, the second time he has received that honor. He has now scored in six out of his last eight MLS games.

“He is a good player, no question about it,” Bruce Arena said in June. “You can see his quality on the ball. He can move the ball, he is a good passer, he can finish off players, so he is a good addition to our squad.”

In the months before he joined the Galaxy, Lletget frequently watched MLS games on SkySports. The more he watched, the more he realized it was going to be a good fit.

“Coming in, I think I knew the intensity was going to be very, very high,” Lletget said. “I knew the quality in the league was picking up. You know from watching the games that there are some really, really good players in this league.

“I am just trying to be one of them.”

Given Lletget’s strong start and the arrival of Giovani Dos Santos, the third-place Galaxy are look likely to move up in the standings. In fact, anything less than winning the MLS Cup is probably going to be considered a disappointment.

And the Galaxy likely won’t be satisfied with league success.

No MLS club has ever won the CONCACAF Champions League in the modern era and the Galaxy want to be the first. On Thursday will kick off its 2015-16 Champions League campaign against Central FC of Trinidad and Tobago.

“We want to win the league but also the Champions League that is coming up,” Lletget said. “That’s a big one for us. In the eyes of the world, that’s taking a big step up if you win that. It’s difficult to do. You can definitely feel it. We want to take the next step.

“Coming in here, that’s one of the things I’ve noticed. The standard is high. We have players that have won championships and demand a certain standard.”

Brian Sciaretta is an American Soccer Now columnist and an ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.