Drogba has become the aged version of Balotelli 2.0.
And Gerrard is the 2nd coming of Andrey Ashavin....
NYCFC Players Wanted Thread
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And Gerrard is the 2nd coming of Andrey Ashavin....
Drogba is such a cautionary tale of the downside of chasing older legends as they play out their career.
And remember last year, some of us here were rather wishing we had him instead of Frank
Or any other DP that believes the league is below them regardless of age. It's a pattern that's repeated itself with high profile players far too often in the history of the MLS. Credit should be given to our FO for so far for getting DPs that play hard and clearly care. I agree with your assessment of it as a cautionary tale, certainly a good lesson for this thread where we regularly see names like Yaya and Balotelli being thrown around.
It all comes down to commitment. Villa has gone all-in and plays with the passion and gusto as if he were still playing for Barcelona. The question is how you can gauge that during the recruitment process. Superstar or not, I would do an extraordinary amount of due diligence and conduct as many meetings/discussions with the players as are possible to put yourself in the best possible position to determine the degree of commitment. And if a prospective DP is offended by the thoroughness, that alone is a tell-tale sign and you move on. We really nailed it with Villa, and have been spoiled with his performance as well.
We also nailed it with Pirlo. The guy actually runs and presses during games - when has he ever done that before? And he's been an iron man playing nearly every game with short rest and heat and turf surface.
now only if we could Vidal or Pogba to go with Pirlo, our CMs would dominate this side of ocean
great Post, Kaka is another good committed player. I agree with all your points. but i think without all the work, one can easily tell by looking at the player's track record. Its part of one's personality traits that never changes. Once a choker always a choker.
http://www.espnfc.us/major-league-s...-mauro-diaz-down-to-clubs-helping-them-settle
If you haven't read this, its pretty interesting info about foreign signings and what FOs are looking for when they sign these players.
If you haven't read this, its pretty interesting info about foreign signings and what FOs are looking for when they sign these players.
Gotta love this quote from the article:
David Villa - no and no. Exception that proves the rule I guess.
Have any of our DPs played outside of their home countries before NYCFC? Pretty sure they all were domestic. And did any of them speak English? Not sure about Pirlo, Villa didn't, and Lampard didn't either since he speaks British. That would make us 3/3 bucking the system.
Have you forgotten David Villa played in Melbourne, Australia before he came to New York?
i seriously believe NYCFC should go after Lorik Cana, Captained the Albanian National Team, played in France for a while. If Patrick wants to go with a three man back line, Cana, Brillant, and Chanot can provide a really stable defense. Would also help the communication between the three of them because Cana speaks French as well.
Seriously, that conversation between him and Gary Lineker was virtually unintelligible at a few points.
(And et tu, Gary, with the "SOCK-ERRRR" routine?)
It's 52. That's the same way they quote a normal persons' salary there or your rent for a flat.
True, but with several mitigating factors that back up the rule:
I believe he "spoke English" to some degree, but didn't feel comfortable speaking it with media. He also has a family and expressed a deep desire to have them experience life in America.
Finally, he had the benefit of months to settle in before playing. That's probably as much or more important than any of the others. Look at how fast he soured on Australia for a good index on how important those factors probably were in him settling "quickly" on the field.
I think it all comes down to separating the anxiety and stresses of a move from playing. It can be accomplished via the club, the player, temporal factors, or some combination of factors.
I'd hypothesize that it's a fixed sum game, and you've just got to get over the line through some mix of will and attributes and assistance so the player has resources left to expend on the pitch.
This is where having a good Academy is so important. If you have a competent kid that you can promote on 60k wages, you drop overpriced, mediocre players. Imagine having a kid the quality of a replacement level CB and discarding Mena at 260k
In 5 years, you don't need guys like White, Hernandez, Saunders, etc. that's 400k of cap room that is replacement level if you have a strong Academy.
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