2026 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread

[Fantazma]

its just frustrating this team is always incomplete at the start of season, and then mid season new players only come in to play like less than half a season.

 

[Gene]

A striker??? We're gonna get a striker??? I'll keep my eyes open for him!!! OH BOY, I can't wait!!!

 

[moogoo]

A striker??? We're gonna get a striker??? I'll keep my eyes open for him!!! OH BOY, I can't wait!!!

nope. just marcy

 

[ZYanksRule]

Brad speaks in constant corporate spin.

Translation of Soups quote from Brad Sims executive spin speak to plain english: We likely aren't going to get a striker this window like we said we intended to. I need to start floating the idea of it not happening until next window to try to shift fan expectations.

You're right about Brad, but in this case we have Todd, Pascal, and Brad saying they want to bring someone in this window. They have been pretty consistent in that. I'm still hopeful.

I wonder if Brad couldn't be more excited about the possibility of bringing in a new striker.

 

[ZYanksRule]

its just frustrating this team is always incomplete at the start of season, and then mid season new players only come in to play like less than half a season.

If we sign a guy this month that argument doesn't hold water for me. I completely agree with you if we're waiting until summer, but if we have a new striker within the first 7-8 games of the season, that's a perfectly acceptable outcome.

 

[Fantazma]

If we sign a guy this month that argument doesn't hold water for me. I completely agree with you if we're waiting until summer, but if we have a new striker within the first 7-8 games of the season, that's a perfectly acceptable outcome.

sure but man i just dont like the lack of plan A/B/C/D like i get things get complex but it always feels like its plan A and then start search again if it doesnt work. instead of having other options from start.

The FO feels reactive and not proactive.

 

[gbservis]

You're right about Brad, but in this case we have Todd, Pascal, and Brad saying they want to bring someone in this window. They have been pretty consistent in that. I'm still hopeful.

I wonder if Brad couldn't be more excited about the possibility of bringing in a new striker.

That's precisely why I'm worried if they were optimistic about it happening this window I think the quote would have come from Todd and/or Pascal. It makes sense if the new is good to let Todd take point on it and take the win to earn credibility as the new guy. The fact that they sent Brad out to spin the bad news reads to me like they are trying to deflect the ultimate disappointment when it doesn't happen away from Todd.

This is textbook spin:

1. Todd and Pascal up until now: We intend to sign a striker in the first window
2. Brad today: We intend to sign a striker either this window or for sure the next
3. Brad when the window closes with no striker: As we said we are working to sign a striker, we have to wait for the right player and it just didn't happen this window so we will for sure sign a striker in the summer when there are more options.

 

[moogoo]

That's precisely why I'm worried if they were optimistic about it happening this window I think the quote would have come from Todd and/or Pascal. It makes sense if the new is good to let Todd take point on it and take the win to earn credibility as the new guy. The fact that they sent Brad out to spin the bad news reads to me like they are trying to deflect the ultimate disappointment when it doesn't happen away from Todd.

This is textbook spin:

1. Todd and Pascal up until now: We intend to sign a striker in the first window
2. Brad today: We intend to sign a striker either this window or for sure the next
3. Brad when the window closes with no striker: As we said we are working to sign a striker, we have to wait for the right player and it just didn't happen this window so we will for sure sign a striker in the summer when there are more options.

we have a few weeks. that's plenty of time for things to happen. i'll give it another 2 weeks of radio silence before I let the doom and gloom start.

The hope is we sign a DP striker this window and a DP winger next window AND they both are instantly as influential and effective as nico, if not more so.

 

[ZYanksRule]

That's precisely why I'm worried if they were optimistic about it happening this window I think the quote would have come from Todd and/or Pascal. It makes sense if the new is good to let Todd take point on it and take the win to earn credibility as the new guy. The fact that they sent Brad out to spin the bad news reads to me like they are trying to deflect the ultimate disappointment when it doesn't happen away from Todd.

This is textbook spin:

1. Todd and Pascal up until now: We intend to sign a striker in the first window
2. Brad today: We intend to sign a striker either this window or for sure the next
3. Brad when the window closes with no striker: As we said we are working to sign a striker, we have to wait for the right player and it just didn't happen this window so we will for sure sign a striker in the summer when there are more options.

Todd and Brad both had routine press conferences today in the build-up to the home opener, which is something they do every year. I'm assuming both Brad and Todd were asked about this, not sure why we haven't seen Todd's quote about it but I wouldn't read much into it being Brad who said something today.

 

[ZYanksRule]

sure but man i just dont like the lack of plan A/B/C/D like i get things get complex but it always feels like its plan A and then start search again if it doesnt work. instead of having other options from start.

The FO feels reactive and not proactive.

They thought they had a deal before the European window closed, and it collapsed as the European window closed. In this instance, I think it's perfectly reasonable why they had to go back to square one.

 

[ezbeezy214]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028943837595357404

Griezmann. Hes right there.

 

[gbservis]

They thought they had a deal before the European window closed, and it collapsed as the European window closed. In this instance, I think it's perfectly reasonable why they had to go back to square one.

Good organizations have backup plans and recover from set backs quickly. Other teams in the league don't start every season with roster holes that persist until the summer window. It's completely absurd that missing on one player sets everything back months. This is not a normal thing it's a CFG thing.

 

[ZYanksRule]

This is quite the answer from Brad on how transfers work/how the approval system works.

Q: Todd Dunivant mentioned that City Football Group sets the team's budget and has approval on player moves. In a separate interview, Pascal Jansen mentioned making transfer requests to the board, and he did that separately from also explicitly mentioning the Sporting Director and you the CEO. Could you talk about when approvals on certain players are needed, if there are certain thresholds, and who exactly is getting those approvals?

Brad Sims: "We have a budget that we plan out, and not just on a year-to-year basis, on a multi-year basis. We essentially have a plan ove usually three-plus seasons in terms of player spend, discretionary – you know, discretionary spend, DPs, when players' salary – you know, when certain players' contracts are up, what our thoughts are around renewing them or not, or when a DP might come up, when a U-22.

I think, by the way, a lot of that's going to change with a new player investment model that will start in the 2027/28 season. We don't have details on that, but I do think that a lot of things are going to change for the better for the league.

But, yeah, we have a budget, and then essentially we work off of that budget. We recruit – you know, we are global. We have a global recruitment team that is looking at players based on what we flagged, Todd and Pascal mostly, on here's the type of profile we want, and it could be very specific. We want this position, left-footed or right-footed, between the age X and age Y.

And we say in our budget is, here's a low-end budget, here's a high-end budget for transfer fee, here's a low-end budget, here's a high-end budget for salary, and essentially come back with a pool of players around the world that fit this criteria. Then the scouts are reviewing film on those groups, narrowing it down. Then they get it to Todd, and he's going to look at it, and then the ones that he likes are going to get in front of Pascal. Pascal is going to give his feedback on them, and then we get down to a short list of 'Here's the guys that we want to actually engage with.'

Then the scouts will go back, usually watch them live. Then we'll start – you know, then you narrow it down to who's the one you want to go after, and you go after them. So it's a very specific structure.

Now, only when things get into approvals are if you're going to go outside of that, outside of the plan or outside of the budget. But if we're within that budget, within the plan, and it's all executed, again, between global scouting, global technical director, Todd, Pascal, et cetera, if it's going to deviate from that plan, that's where I'm involved, global CFO, global COO, global CEO, you know, on a City Football Group standpoint, are all involved in the decision-making process, if we're going to kind of exceed what the previous plan is. If not, then it's – we roll it out.

So there's a group – I would say there's a group, and everyone's involved in understanding what's going on. But in terms of identifying what is the profile of the target, that's driven by Todd and Pascal. And then the process, we've got a ton of amazing resources globally. But I don't think any other team has this kind of process and resources and granularity with how you can get into.

Now – then you try and figure out, 'Okay, now we're going to go try and get a deal done.' Then when you get an agreement with someone, then they usually – if they're European-based, they usually go to Manchester for a physical. If they're South American-based, they may go to Bahia. Or if it's, depending on visas, they can come to New York, et cetera. But a lot of times, a lot of the places we're at, we'll go to Manchester, deal with Man City doctors, go through that whole process. And then if there's all the proper sign-offs everywhere, then we close the deal.

The budget, right now, we have a budget for a significant investment now in this window. So that's what we're focused on. If it doesn't happen in this window, then it will happen in the next window. And we know we have a DP spot that will be available, we have one available now, we have another one that could be available either in the summer or whether it's next winter. And so we already have planned out, I would say, through the 2029 season, always subject to change.

Someone asked me that question before about when we had the transition from Dave [David Lee] to Todd. We already had a plan, you know, well in advance. It wasn't, there wasn't any disruption to the plan, because we already knew what we were looking for and what the budgets were and what the plan was."

From Hudson River Blue: Brad Sims: 'We have budget for a significant investment in this window'

 

[BC19]

Good organizations have backup plans and recover from set backs quickly. Other teams in the league don't start every season with roster holes that persist until the summer window. It's completely absurd that missing on one player sets everything back months. This is not a normal thing it's a CFG thing.

I wouldn’t even say it’s a CFG thing. Man City signed 2 players in the first week of the January window this year, and will probably run down Arsenal and win the league because of it. I think two in the January 25 window as well. This past summer, when they had 10 day pre Club World Cup signing window, they signed Reinders. CFG is capable of moving quickly when they want to.

 

[mgarbowski]

The question that needed to be asked is why has the roster been incomplete on opening day 3 of the last 4 years.
You can’t blame bad luck repeatedly. So is it the system and procedures, or the people?

ETA to clarify: specifically incomplete with respect to starting attacking positions.
I’d be ok of we started a season short of a 4th choice center back.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I wouldn’t even say it’s a CFG thing. Man City signed 2 players in the first week of the January window this year, and will probably run down Arsenal and win the league because of it. I think two in the January 25 window as well. This past summer, when they had 10 day pre Club World Cup signing window, they signed Reinders. CFG is capable of moving quickly when they want to.

And we are starting to amass evidence that the slow-moving nature of our signings was a David Lee problem.

Sporting KC is an absolute mess right now, and we signed an impact player in January and (nearly) signed a DP striker too before the medicals failed.

We still need more information, but I am fairly convinced our slow-moving signings were David Lee's fault.

As for the CFG issue, that interview from Brad Sims makes it pretty clear that as long as we stay within the budget, we have free reign to sign players; CFG is not the reason for the slow decision-making, unless Brad is lying which is certainly possible.

 

[gbservis]

And we are starting to amass evidence that the slow-moving nature of our signings was a David Lee problem.

Sporting KC is an absolute mess right now, and we signed an impact player in January and (nearly) signed a DP striker too before the medicals failed.

We still need more information, but I am fairly convinced our slow-moving signings were David Lee's fault.

I can't stand David Lee but this "what's happening in SKC" narrative is proof of something is absurd. SKC cut nearly their entire team at the end of last season. There is clearly a mandate from ownership to tear it down and restart and take time to build it back. 13 players left SKCs roster and Lee has added 12 players to the roster. We had 2 spots to fill, we had one filled with a player gifted from a sister club and we whiffed on one over a month ago and still have no backup plan.

I don't know how you read that Sims quote and not go, wow that's a lot of back a forth with a centralized global team for both scouting a negotiations. That is a far more convoluted process than any other team in the league is going through and worse it doesn't seem to come with any upside. It would be one thing if the CFG scouting team was hitting at a higher rate than other MLS clubs doing it on their own but I think you could argue they may be worse. Lets parse the source of this year and last years roster to try to determine who was a direct CFG global find and who came from other sources to guage their track record:

1. Domestic pipeline likely maintained by local scouting and development

• NYCFC Academy: Gray, Arroyave, Biaera, Carrizo, Flax, Molinari, Yanez, Reid, Haak, Sands
• Super draft picks: Otoole, Jones, Murray, Cavallo, Pierre, Romero
• Intra MLS or other domestic league signing: Freese, Perera, Ranjitsingh

2. Players transferred from other CFG clubs that likely required minimal scouting at they are known to CFG

• Martins, Oniel, Trewin, Martinez

3. Players that came from abroad not already on a CFG club, likely identified by CFG global scouting

• Nico
• Julian
• Raul (this might have been Pascal though as he coached him previously)
• Illenic
• Magno
• Jovan
• Maxi
• Ojeda
• Parks
• Tana
• Wolf

There are some gems in that list but also a lot of duds for how much CFG scouting was touted to be a strategic advantage to the club. For every home run such as Parks, Maxi, Nico there are total train wreck signings like Jovan, Fernandez and Magno. You'd be hard pressed in all of MLS to find a bigger whiff in the last 3 years than Jovan.

 

[BxLio91]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028930448416514323

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028966579703050479

 

[Kenny]

Underwhelming. Not that I've ever seen him play, or heard of his club. But that's part of the point.