2024 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread
- Thread starter JayH
- Start date
Also, and hopefully this doesn't jinx it, he seems very durable physically. For a dribbler who gets fouled a lot he's rarely injured
This comment inspired me to look into how the current NYCFC develop and sell approach compares to other MLS teams. The table below shows every player who is 23 or under and was signed for more than $1M on the top 11 MLS teams as measured by roster transfer market value from transfermarket.us. As a rough way to gauge risk, I looked at the transfer cost vs the number of professional appearances the player had made before the transfer. Dividing the appearances by the transfer fee gives us a rough gauge of risk in transfer $ per appearance. Outside of Miami who I think you could reasonably argue is in a much stronger roster position right now the current NYCFC signings are significant outliers.
Given the uncertainties of player development, it seems like the other teams in the league are taking a much safer route of either spending less money on players with limited experience or when they do spend over $5M they are signing players with enough games played to be more of a known. In a league with limited resources we just placed 3 very expensive high-risk bets and I'm still not sure why.
One other interesting note is that a consistently successful group of teams in Columbus, Philly, and Cincinnati do not have a single player on the roster that even meets the criteria.
As we consider Santi’s strength as a DP this year, I’d also look at Maxi’s goal contributions per 90. We know how exceptional Maxi is but my guess is his numbers are weak. Yes he is older and not a DP anymore. But I think even more telling is that he no longer has the supporting cast he had in 2021. I wonder if Santi would have DP 1A numbers if he had the supporting cast Maxi had in 2019-2021.
We have too many forwards and not enough midfielders/defenders...
We have three strikers, only one of whom is scoring. Bakrar as a U22 is just wasting on the bench. Jovan needs to grow into the role.
Malachi Jones moved up the depth chart, pushing Ojeda down before he got injured.
In the midfield after Maxi, Sands, and Parks it becomes Perera (injured) and Haak. That's been the biggest hole for this roster. Not enough midfielders.
David Lee, sign some 6s and 8s.
We have three strikers, only one of whom is scoring. Bakrar as a U22 is just wasting on the bench. Jovan needs to grow into the role.
Malachi Jones moved up the depth chart, pushing Ojeda down before he got injured.
In the midfield after Maxi, Sands, and Parks it becomes Perera (injured) and Haak. That's been the biggest hole for this roster. Not enough midfielders.
David Lee, sign some 6s and 8s.
Bakrar is not a U22, he was, but is no longer.
I don't think the team needs any 6s. Sands, Perea, Parks, and Haak seem to have that covered pretty well.
Another 8 would be great
hear me out guys...
victor osimhen is on the market. napoli want him out and he's trying to move. so far, no big european clubs are biting and his only option would be to go to saudi or be without a club. maybe we can send bakrar and jovan to napoli and bring osimhen in as a DP.
victor osimhen is on the market. napoli want him out and he's trying to move. so far, no big european clubs are biting and his only option would be to go to saudi or be without a club. maybe we can send bakrar and jovan to napoli and bring osimhen in as a DP.
Hasn't the window closed for anything other than free agent signings?
Yes he would have to sit out until winter. Plus overnight reports after M moogoo posted now say Napoli agreed to terms with Al-Ahli in Saudi. Plus this type pf player just seems outside the NYCFC zone of interest.
But it's fun to dream.
I'm likely missing some obvious loophole that could be abused but why does the MLS even have a transfer window? For an expanding league that should always be on the hunt for the very best players we can get why exclude teams from an opportunity to get a player because of an artificial deadline? At least for DPs teams should be able to sign players whenever they get a shot at them.
That's silly especially when players consistently move between leagues and leagues operate on all different schedules. Given how corrupt Fifa is I don't know why everyone keeps abiding by their rules and given they can be brided to do pretty much anything the MLS should flip them some money to get the rules changed.
i think the easiest solution would be to schedule the MLS transfer window to end at least a week after the major european windows end so that once the dust has settled in europe, we know who is still looking for a team.
of course, that also creates the question of do we really want a player that will only come if it's the last resort?
Every American domestic league has trade deadlines in place though they tend to be less limited than the 2 windows most soccer leagues have.
But I think in part the idea is the same - to put some limitation on the ability of teams to rent players for season ending pushes to qualify for regional play, or avoid relegation. With a few dozen major-ish leagues with different schedules, a truly international market, plus a strong cultural norm that players can move whenever they want for fair compensation to their current team, allowing transfers whenever would be a bit too chaotic.
Fans would really hate losing players with a few weeks left in a season just because some bigger club is making a push and offered both player and team a basket of cash. It's bad enough dealing with it in prescribed periods.
I'm no FIFA defender, but I think they get this reasonably right. I understand there was a different system earlier where transfers were allowed year round except for near the end of each season, which sounds similar to the American norm. I think that could work as well. Right now, MLS has less than 25% of the season left for most teams. If that would not put us in the no-transfer zone, it would be close to the deadline under any system but the free-for-all.
But I think in part the idea is the same - to put some limitation on the ability of teams to rent players for season ending pushes to qualify for regional play, or avoid relegation. With a few dozen major-ish leagues with different schedules, a truly international market, plus a strong cultural norm that players can move whenever they want for fair compensation to their current team, allowing transfers whenever would be a bit too chaotic.
Fans would really hate losing players with a few weeks left in a season just because some bigger club is making a push and offered both player and team a basket of cash. It's bad enough dealing with it in prescribed periods.
I'm no FIFA defender, but I think they get this reasonably right. I understand there was a different system earlier where transfers were allowed year round except for near the end of each season, which sounds similar to the American norm. I think that could work as well. Right now, MLS has less than 25% of the season left for most teams. If that would not put us in the no-transfer zone, it would be close to the deadline under any system but the free-for-all.
The issue is that unlike the MLS all of the other American domestic leagues are the 1# league in the world for their sport, most of them by a considerable margin so they are the destination of choice. If the MLS window closed after the european league windows we could probably grab a few high quality players that wanted to get to or stay in europe but couldn't find a the right team. As it stands now we need a commitment from players well before they realize their european options have dried up.
That works if MLS moves its windows and nobody else does. You can't assume the rules change and nobody else adjusts. Without the window rules that one be long and offseason and one shorter and midseason, suddenly MLS is subject to losing players with 2 weeks left in the MLS season because some league in Europe has an open window then. I get we're not a big league and I guess I didn't communicate but the point that the current rules prevent big teams poaching from smaller was meant to be central to my post.
Also I never saw anyone complain about this problem of MLS missing out on players after European windows close until last nights fanciful post about Osimhen who was never coming to MLS anyway. Is there really a steady supply of players who want transfers, can’t get either their wage demands met, or their clubs’ fee demands met, but would get both those demands met by MLS clubs? Will players and clubs really accept less from MLS just because nobody in Europe met their ask? Is this really a problem that needs to be solved?
