2026 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread

[mgarbowski]

The club seems content to be very good but never push for great given their willingness to just kick the can down the road to the next transfer window every season. I still stand by my position that NYCFC is essentially the Indiana Pacers of MLS. Always in the playoffs, never a true title contender, hyper focused on value while be consistently unwilling to break the bank even if that type of move would make a very good team a true title contender.

At times the way Sims talks almost obsessively about player vetting and all the conditions to sign a player I wonder if some of the clubs issues stem from being overly cautious when it comes to DPs. Sometimes you have to take a swing.

I remain partial to overconfidence chained to a budget. They did not just get lucky in 2021. I think they very much built for a championship from 2016 to 2021-22, before all this /gestures about /, began. I can think of 3 possible explanations for the change. One, it was mostly Reyna dragging the organization behind him through aura and will, and Lee was only able to keep it going so long after Claudio left. Two, having won, they lost ambition. Three, my favorite, they fell in love with the Young DP and U22 options, have never been good at it, have no plan for how to maintain or quickly turn over a roster when the goal is to sell (with problems both when they can and cannot make a profit), and yet they believe it gives them an edge despite solid contrary evidence.

 

[FootyLovin]

I'm not making excuses for the club, because we could REALLY use extra help up top, but there are only 11 matches between now and then opening of the summer transfer window. Maybe the club thought that the good start buys them some time.

I will feel much better about this if/when the club signs someone in the first week of the new window. Orlando has already announced Griezman for the summer window. Give me one of those situations for once.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I will feel much better about this if/when the club signs someone in the first week of the new window. Orlando has already announced Griezman for the summer window. Give me one of those situations for once.

We did that last year. Nico was available the first game after the summer window opened.

 

[mgarbowski]

We did that last year. Nico was available the first game after the summer window opened.

I wonder if the World Cup will make it easier or harder to make deals in that time frame. The summer window opens July 13. Our first post WC game is July 22. The WC Final is July 19, though most teams will have been eliminated earlier. I figure no player on an active WC roster is likely to be part of a deal until his country is eliminated.