NYCFC Players Wanted Thread
- Thread starter NYCFC_Dan
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Should still root for them up until the final just to extend the effect that playing in CCL is having on their season.
It's a two edged sword.
The further they are in the CCL, the more games they'd lose in MLS. I'm okay with this.
The further they are in the CCL, the closer they are to win the CCL and win an actual trophy. I'm not okay with this.
I was interested in the same thing, someone asked Araos and he replied with this on the thread:
Can straddle this between threads, but will place this here as Balotelli has come up in here over the years:
https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/04/1...-madrid-mino-raiola-mario-balotelli-dc-united
https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/04/1...-madrid-mino-raiola-mario-balotelli-dc-united
I always felt he had great talent. I've always been a fan and wanted him to do well too. I know he's a dumbass sometimes but I'd blame half of that on him having a big chip on his shoulder. Couldn't be easy being a black Italian soccer player. So I understand the attitude to a degree. It's also why I continue to root for his success. I'd love to see a healthy motivated Mario on this team, but I can't see us going that route. Hope he winds up in MLS, it'll be good for the league.
Never put much stock in the Rusnak story but Google Translate is telling me "fake news" means "accurate but undesirable" and now I don't know what to believe.
He'll most likely leave Barça this summer but he's looking at China, not MLS. It's a shame, watching him play live is still magical, and I try not to throw that word around too much.
At this point I hope neither Iniesta or Torres get MLS offers, the league needs to set the precedent that you can't wait till your 34 years old and well past your prime to come play in the MLS. Both of those guys needed to come at least 2 years sooner, it's going to take a few big name rejections by the league for other future stars to start realizing that the MLS is improving and if they want to play here they need start considering it closer to 30 than 35.
I know we're all excited about MLS 17.0 or whatever we're calling the new Latin hotness, but I'll never get why MLS fans are so dogmatic/defensive about age and where a player stands vis-à-vis his prime. The only questions we should worry about are (1) whether a guy has the ability to do well in this league, (2) whether he wants to be here, and (3) whether the price is right. Villa, for example, is old and well past his prime but still emphatically checks all three boxes. In Iniesta's case I can promise you the answer to the first question is yes, but the second and third questions point toward China.
This is basically correct. There are two basic questions that inform success for a veteran player in MLS.
1 - does the guy still have ability?
2 - will he be motivated to play his best?
If he is seriously considering China or Qatar instead of MLS, then the answer to #2 is definitely "no" and the answer to #1 may be as well.
I think you missed (3) is the player at an age where its reasonably likely they will be fit and able to play a full season, (4) does the player have enough years left in the tank to stick around long enough (in my book at least 2 years) to build chemistry with teammates and not impact the stability of a club by creating a revolving door of key players. If you are bringing in a guy like Iniesta he's going to be one of the most important players on your team from both a tactics and pay stand point. Name a club in the world that turns over players that central to their core consistently year after year while sustaining success.
I'm not saying we expect them to come at 25 years old but ideally at the time they are coming they have enough left in the tank that they are choosing between a 2 year deal in the MLS and a 2 year deal with a club of decent quality in Europe. Villa could have signed a deal and started for a good Premier league or La Liga team at the time he came, Lampard was barely coming off the bench for MCFC.
Those type player (even at 2 years) shouldn’t be DPs anymore. They should come on TAM contracts and be complimentary roster players. Even Iniesta. You’d need a roster hole and plug them in for a year two. And expect to refill that hole after. But you can’t build a roster around them. I’d want 3-5 years of service to use the DP spot, make someone a captain and centerpiece of our roster.
I agree it helps when you can bring players in on a TAM to protect DP spots but regardless of pay Iniesta as a talented midfield creator would be a bit similar to Pirlo in the sense that tactics would need to be adjusted to get the most out of him. Given the choice I think superstar TAM rentals are better used on goal scoring forwards like Zlatan and Drogba few years ago that can just show up and score.
I think we may eventually get there, but at this point this is wishful thinking IMHO. Iniesta is still a starter/or at least key cog for a Spanish national team that humiliated Argentina 2 weeks ago and may win the WC. When fit he was still influential in Barca this season, and was key 2 seasons ago, so you're simply dreaming if you think he would have taken up an offer to come to MLS at that point in his career. Unless we did a PSG kind of move and offered him 100 M, and then he would be doing it for the money exclusively. The gap between those rarefied heavens of soccer excellence and the level of play of our beloved club are still very very very wide, although they are shrinking. I would take Iniesta today in a heartbeat. And I think it is a fantasy to think that him or somebody of his caliber (a real top 10 golden ball player of a generation, the absolute creme de la creme) would consider MLS at age 30 or 32.
Iniesta has been 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in Ballon D'Or voting, and you could argue he's been a distant third behind Ronaldo and Messi in terms of achievement. And unlike Kaka, who came to MLS at age 32, his level of play has not nosedived. He's been pretty regular.
I worry about players coming from Spain and Italy. English players may be overrated talent wise, but the physicality of this league doesn't bother them.
You could argue that Pirlo at his age, with his style of play, was less reliant on his physical tools than Lampard. Even so, Lampard, at 38, had no issues with the physicality of the league.
You could argue that Pirlo at his age, with his style of play, was less reliant on his physical tools than Lampard. Even so, Lampard, at 38, had no issues with the physicality of the league.
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