NYCFC in the Media Thread - 2025

[FootyLovin]

The roster-building answer was pretty vague too but I found it interesting that he framed it as two eras with mostly a continuous strategy from year 4 onward. To me, it seems more like 3 separate approaches as I don't see many similarities between the current approach and the post Villa years that lead the the championship.

i actually think if they sign a legit 10 then this roster looks a lot like those rosters. Maxi, a couple of homegrowns (Tayvon, Sands), youth brigade that turned good all at the same/right time (Taty, Magno, Santi, Medina).

I don't know if our youth brigade will breakout the way the last one did. But the roster strategy looks similar - if they sign a great #10.

I would also say you can view roster building in a different 2 eras. Reyna’s players and Lee’s players. The heart of all the success they drone on about came under Reyna’s players. Since the roster turned over after 2022 there hasn’t been any success, or entertainment value frankly.

Of course, strategy and execution are 2 different things. Strategy - great #10, homegrowns, youth brigade, a couple/few solid mid-level pieces. Can Lee's bets pay off over time the way Reyna's did? Haven't seen it so far.

 

[gbservis]

i actually think if they sign a legit 10 then this roster looks a lot like those rosters. Maxi, a couple of homegrowns (Tayvon, Sands), youth brigade that turned good all at the same/right time (Taty, Magno, Santi, Medina).

I don't know if our youth brigade will breakout the way the last one did. But the roster strategy looks similar - if they sign a great #10.


Of course, strategy and execution are 2 different things. Strategy - great #10, homegrowns, youth brigade, a couple/few solid mid-level pieces. Can Lee's bets pay off over time the way Reyna's did? Haven't seen it so far.

That makes sense when you put it that way. The big difference right now is the rawness of the youth brigade which is more player selection issues than change in strategy. Taty, Magno, Santi, Medina were all prospects that developed over time and certainly struggled at times but all of them looked like they could hold their own upon arrival. The fact that we are over a year in and Ojeda and Fernandez are still struggling is crazy especially when you consider that we paid $500k for Taty compared to $7.5M for Ojeda.

It makes sense that Lee says they run it like a business but it makes spending $20M of those limited funds on Jovan, Ojeda, and Fernandez with no meaningful impact over a year in hard to stomach.

 

[moogoo]

That makes sense when you put it that way. The big difference right now is the rawness of the youth brigade which is more player selection issues than change in strategy. Taty, Magno, Santi, Medina were all prospects that developed over time and certainly struggled at times but all of them looked like they could hold their own upon arrival. The fact that we are over a year in and Ojeda and Fernandez are still struggling is crazy especially when you consider that we paid $500k for Taty compared to $7.5M for Ojeda.

It makes sense that Lee says they run it like a business but it makes spending $20M of those limited funds on Jovan, Ojeda, and Fernandez with no meaningful impact over a year in hard to stomach.

magno and santi were Lee signings, no? both came in after reyna had left for austin.

 

[gbservis]

magno and santi were Lee signings, no? both came in after reyna had left for austin.

Yeah, I didn't differentiate between Lee signings and non-Lee signings. Doesn't matter who signed them, it matters that by far the largest outflow of transfer money in the history of the club has resulted in one player already gone and the remaining two not producing anything. Sims just confirmed that the team needs to run like a business and keep close to a balanced budget which to me sounds like Lee spent all the Taty and Gabby money on Jovan, Ojeda and Fernandez. That's a big problem.

 

[Gene]

https://nypost.com/2025/03/08/sports/nycfc-players-fans-feeling-nostalgic-over-10th-anniversary/

 

[mgarbowski]

MLS anonymous executive survey, Part 1: 2025 predictions, league superlatives

Our annual survey does not disappoint, with high-ranking MLS club executives giving their thoughts on a wide range of league topics.

www.nytimes.com

Athletic Annual Anonymous MLS GM Survey

Categories in which NYCFC did not rank w/ number of teams/players listed

Win Cup 5
Win Shield 5
Best move of the winter 11
Best offseason 7
Best Player xMessi 6
Best keeper 5
Best defender 10
Best midfielder 7
Best attacker xMessi 6
Next MLS player to make big move abroad 9
Player on best value contract 8
Best head coach 4
Most underrated coach 13
Best chief soccer officer 8
Best signing of the decade xMessi 7

Categories with NYCFC presence:
Most Underrated - Keaton 1 vote tie 4th
Best coaching hire Jansen 2 votes tie third
Best scouting department 4 votes second

 

[gbservis]

MLS anonymous executive survey, Part 1: 2025 predictions, league superlatives

Our annual survey does not disappoint, with high-ranking MLS club executives giving their thoughts on a wide range of league topics.

www.nytimes.com

Athletic Annual Anonymous MLS GM Survey

Categories in which NYCFC did not rank w/ number of teams/players listed

Win Cup 5
Win Shield 5
Best move of the winter 11
Best offseason 7
Best Player xMessi 6
Best keeper 5
Best defender 10
Best midfielder 7
Best attacker xMessi 6
Next MLS player to make big move abroad 9
Player on best value contract 8
Best head coach 4
Most underrated coach 13
Best chief soccer officer 8
Best signing of the decade xMessi 7

Categories with NYCFC presence:
Most Underrated - Keaton 1 vote tie 4th
Best coaching hire Jansen 2 votes tie third
Best scouting department 4 votes second

10 players got a vote for best defender and not one of them was our DP CB.

 

[EganSoccerWords]

I would also say you can view roster building in a different 2 eras. Reyna’s players and Lee’s players. The heart of all the success they drone on about came under Reyna’s players. Since the roster turned over after 2022 there hasn’t been any success, or entertainment value frankly.

You really can't. Claudio might have been the boss but David Lee's job has been player recruitment since 2014. He's likely been involved in every player signing the club has ever made.

 

[gbservis]

You really can't. Claudio might have been the boss but David Lee's job has been player recruitment since 2014. He's likely been involved in every player signing the club has ever made.

Maybe it was mostly Lee but Claudio used to drop little useful course corrections. I could imagine Claudio hypothetically saying something like: "Hey David I saw your latest transfer proposal, maybe we don't spend ALL the money on 18 year olds with less than 30 career starts. That could go bad, lets spread it around a bit, maybe 1-2 completely unproven 18 year olds and then spend the rest of the money on proven players to balance things out."

 

[ZYanksRule]

Maybe it was mostly Lee but Claudio used to drop little useful course corrections. I could imagine Claudio hypothetically saying something like: "Hey David I saw your latest transfer proposal, maybe we don't spend ALL the money on 18 year olds with less than 30 career starts. That could go bad, lets spread it around a bit, maybe 1-2 completely unproven 18 year olds and then spend the rest of the money on proven players to balance things out."

I think the entire organization has changed the transfer strategy the last 3 years. They have moved away from the Martins, Moralez mold into the Santi, Jovan mold. We can infer based on the Brad Sims interviews that they are trying to not break the bank on salaries right now due to the stadium situation, and will start to spend more on the roster when the stadium gets here. Sounds like CFG doesn't want us to hemorrhage money, whereas maybe they were a little more willing in our first couple years as we tried to build the organization.

 

[gbservis]

I think the entire organization has changed the transfer strategy the last 3 years. They have moved away from the Martins, Moralez mold into the Santi, Jovan mold. We can infer based on the Brad Sims interviews that they are trying to not break the bank on salaries right now due to the stadium situation, and will start to spend more on the roster when the stadium gets here. Sounds like CFG doesn't want us to hemorrhage money, whereas maybe they were a little more willing in our first couple years as we tried to build the organization.

Which makes it even more perplexing that they spent all the Taty and Gabby money the way they did.

 

[FootyLovin]

Which makes it even more perplexing that they spent all the Taty and Gabby money the way they did.

I think they are/were thinking like a PE firm or maybe more like a tech incubator. Place 5 bets and be happy if 4 of them flame out so long as 1 hits the 10x.

 

[gbservis]

I think they are/were thinking like a PE firm or maybe more like a tech incubator. Place 5 bets and be happy if 4 of them flame out so long as 1 hits the 10x.

Id say it was more amature at the casino. They placed 4-5 bets on guys in the .5M to 1M range hit big on Taty and turned $500k into $15M. Then thought that worked well should we do that again, nah, we are amazing at this let's go place $20M in bets on the highest risk players we can find!

 

[mgarbowski]

I think they are/were thinking like a PE firm or maybe more like a tech incubator. Place 5 bets and be happy if 4 of them flame out so long as 1 hits the 10x.

A potentially valid approach if you measure players as P/L assets. Not so much if you value roster depth.

 

[FootyLovin]

Id say it was more amature at the casino. They placed 4-5 bets on guys in the .5M to 1M range hit big on Taty and turned $500k into $15M. Then thought that worked well should we do that again, nah, we are amazing at this let's go place $20M in bets on the highest risk players we can find!

I like that comparison better.

Reminds me when I first started my business and I had no clients. I spent a lot of time playing internet poker (not the smartest way to build my client list). I took the $25 freebie money to start playing on a site and hit the $.01/$.02 limit hold ‘em tables. In not so much time I advanced to the $.05/$.10 tables and turned my $25 into $1,000. Started having dreams about maybe just maybe I could be a pro player. Look how fucking good I am. Moved up to the $.25/$.50 tables and promptly turned my $1,000 into $0.

Word to the wise David Lee. Word to the wise.