David Villa Departs New York City Football Club

Also the way Patricof said, "We wish it could have gone on longer," ... he sped through it like not even he could say it. Villa also seemed to give him a look that said this was more the team's decision than Villa's.

Not true. This was David’s decision. Team actually wanted to discuss an extension.
 
I have nothing against camo myself, but does David Villa strike you as a camo guy?

If you look deep enough, we're all camo in our hearts.

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Not true. This was David’s decision. Team actually wanted to discuss an extension.
Could it be both? Villa wanted to continue with existing status as a DP and Club wanted to discuss extension as a non-DP, so both wanted more and neither wanted what the other was starting at as a floor to the issue so both sides “feel” the other made the decision to walk away?
 
Could it be both? Villa wanted to continue with existing status as a DP and Club wanted to discuss extension as a non-DP, so both wanted more and neither wanted what the other was starting at as a floor to the issue so both sides “feel” the other made the decision to walk away?

I think you're right that the most likely scenario was that it was something along the lines you describe. Villa said I want to come back on a contract similar to my current one, NYCFC said we were thing more like a TAM contract. Villa decided more money and putting a couple of his DV7 academies in another country was a better option for him and they mutually agreed to part ways.

Based on how amicable everything was at the end with him doing the ceremony it feels like it must have been some type of compromise like this. If it had been one side or the other just flat out saying no thanks I suspect things wouldn't have gone as smoothly at the end.
 
Team approached him in the second half of the year and he asked that it be discussed at the end of the season. He went and found himself a new club in the interim.

Maybe he knew what the offer would look like and found himself a better one. Maybe he wanted to challenge himself again in a new country. But the team did approach him and he never engaged back.
 
Team approached him in the second half of the year and he asked that it be discussed at the end of the season. He went and found himself a new club in the interim.

Maybe he knew what the offer would look like and found himself a better one. Maybe he wanted to challenge himself again in a new country. But the team did approach him and he never engaged back.
This^ RT. Plus he also wanted to try to play with Iniesta or Torres so can see that making a major impact as well if the club wasn't interested in bringing either in.
 
Team approached him in the second half of the year and he asked that it be discussed at the end of the season. He went and found himself a new club in the interim.

Maybe he knew what the offer would look like and found himself a better one. Maybe he wanted to challenge himself again in a new country. But the team did approach him and he never engaged back.
Again, source?
 
Listen - maybe the Club went to him and said we would like to discuss an extension and the salary starts at X. He may have said I’ll get back to you.

But the Club opened the door. Wasn’t meant to be that’s all. Can’t fault either party.
 
He is generally the source of what he says, as he has some sort of insider knowledge. It's the "take it with a grain of salt" we've discussed in the past like in the stadium thread. Either you believe him and his 'inside source' or you don't.

Same person that told me about our new CB. No ones business to know that persons name.
 
This^ RT. Plus he also wanted to try to play with Iniesta or Torres so can see that making a major impact as well if the club wasn't interested in bringing either in.

Listen - maybe the Club went to him and said we would like to discuss an extension and the salary starts at X. He may have said I’ll get back to you.

But the Club opened the door. Wasn’t meant to be that’s all. Can’t fault either party.

If it's just the money thing I won't fault either the club or Villa. But if it was Villa wanting to play with other high caliber Spanish national team vets I will fault the club a bit. Not because they didn't do anything about it this season but because they didn't do anything about it for 4 years. I can't blame Villa at all if he was disappointed in the clubs unwillingness/inability to bring in another high caliber DP to play along side him the last two years. You can debate if for the club Medina was a good signing or not but there's no debating that from Villa's perspective it was an awful signing. The club basically said: Hey David good news for you're last year under contract we used our one open slot that we can use on any player we want to sign a 19 year old that falls over at the thought of contact and is multiple years away from possibly becoming a star. We think he might be really great in a few years, now can you go win us an MLS cup in your last season here.

Sorry for the rant but as the sadness of his departure starts to dissipate I find myself thinking more and more about how the club struck gold with Villa arguably the best MLS DP ever and then just wasted the last 2 years of it because they got cheap. They went on an on about how lucky we were to have him, so why didn't they surround him with high quality firepower and go for it? Get cheap after the guy is gone, I don't care if they filled the roster with terrible DPs after he was gone to recoup whatever they had to spend to go big while he was here.