First thing I picked up on, too. Another mystery. Did we not fill out the paperwork properly or something? If so, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on that one.
2026 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread
- Thread starter LionNYC
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Seems clear to me that if other teams do it and NYCFC does not, it's more likely we are following an internal CFG sell-before-replace rule than being held back by a misunderstanding of paperwork or MLS rules.
Ah, this makes sense to me. I'm sure you're right.
Doyle can be annoying, but this is pretty spot on (as the Brits say)
Offseason Guides: LAFC, NYCFC & Cincy all head into the lab
NYCFC's got a new front office, LAFC's got a new coach and the Garys need an adjustment to the game modelopen.substack.com
I don’t think this is actually true. I do recall spots opening up when we loaned guys in the past - e.g. Mitrita.
I think Mitrita is the only counter example. I also think Andrade, Talles and Jovan might be the only 3 positive examples.
The non-roster slot player who looms over this perception is Taty who was on loan for roughly one year before we acquired a new first choice striker in the same window he was eventually sold. There was no special roster slot associated with him, but that gap was central to the team's quality drop in 2023, from which it still has not really recovered, in some part because we have consistently had actual unfilled special roster slots at almost every time since.
If my list is correct (and I'm never fully confident about these roster fact things as I can be about other categories) then I think it's fair to say this is how NYCFC does it. Mitrita's DP slot was filled by Talles in early 2021 while Mitrita was still on loan. We're coming up on 5 years since then and no more counter examples.
ETA: It also is fair to consider that Mitrita was a special Covid era case. He left only because of Covid and we acquired Talles in substantial part due to ongoing Covid cash flow issues faced by other teams.
I enjoy speculating about it because there does seem to be a pattern, but ultimately, the cause doesn’t matter. It’s the same consistent lack of ambition.
I believe the rules about whether a loaned DP has to be counted as a DP involve how much of his salary budget charge is offset by the receiving team.
Except in the cases of Miami...
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Which means we should be making it a condition of the loan that they pay the full salary.
Tough to do when the player is a bust.
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I would hope it's fairly commonplace that the team pays the full salary, no? They're getting a player for free, they just have to pay the salary. Loans save on the transfer fee but they get all the benefit of the player for a year.
Jovan makes $650K per year, and Belgian pro league bench players often make low 6 figures. In 1.5 seasons for OH Levuen Jovan has played in 20 matches, starting 8, with one goal. Don't think the club has much leverage to get them to take on anywhere near his full salary.
The transfer industry is a marketplace. If a players value has significantly dropped since their last transaction, their current club takes a hit one way or the other. It's the same in baseball, and I assume other sports, where a team will trade away a player but still be on the hook for some of their salary.
If I recall correctly, Atlanta had 4 DPs last year and DC United was paying for one of Atlanta’s DPs due to a weird quirk in the market place where the player was still on the books with DC as a DP but was fully traded to Atlanta
