NYCFC Players Wanted Thread

I agree with your reply 100%

It's an exciting time in MLS that we are having these type of debates

I also second that. Mascherano is the kind of guy, like Villa, who gets bigger in the toughest circumstances. During Argentina's very tough qualifying he and Messi were the guys pushing the team forward while the other superstars made themselves as small as they could on the pitch. He's a tried and true leader. El Jefecito.
 
With the Galaxy looking to bring in Zlatan they're going to need some TAM. I'd love to trade some for Lleget.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kjbert
With the Galaxy looking to bring in Zlatan they're going to need some TAM. I'd love to trade some for Lleget.

:rotatinglight: MLS ROSTER RULES HYPO :rotatinglight:

If we were to buy up to $2.8m in discretionary TAM and then trade that TAM for a player, should it count toward acquisition costs* when determining his DP status? I'm not sure there's a fair answer to this question.

*Note that GAM may be used to "off-set acquisition costs (loan and transfer fees)" and TAM may be used "to sign a new player provided his salary and acquisition costs are more than the maximum salary budget."
 
:rotatinglight: MLS ROSTER RULES HYPO :rotatinglight:

If we were to buy up to $2.8m in discretionary TAM and then trade that TAM for a player, should it count toward acquisition costs* when determining his DP status? I'm not sure there's a fair answer to this question.

*Note that GAM may be used to "off-set acquisition costs (loan and transfer fees)" and TAM may be used "to sign a new player provided his salary and acquisition costs are more than the maximum salary budget."

Acquisition costs involve the actual money a team spends, not the salary capacity it trades. If I give Shalke $1 million on a player transfer, that is cash out the door and counts against that player's salary budget charge for that season. If I give Real Salt Lake $1 million in TAM or GAM, I haven't given them any money - only the ability to spend money. Further, that ability to spend is transferred away from me, so the net effect of the deal is no additional money being spent by the league or its teams.

I actually even wonder if it is even possible to have acquisition costs for a transfer within the league. Every player contract is with MLS, so the money simply round trips anyway. That said, it is really rare for players to be transferred within the league for cash (as opposed to TAM or GAM). I can't think of an instance off the top of my head.
 
Acquisition costs involve the actual money a team spends, not the salary capacity it trades. If I give Shalke $1 million on a player transfer, that is cash out the door and counts against that player's salary budget charge for that season.

The complicating factor with discretionary TAM, as opposed to league-issued TAM, is that any team that uses it did spend actual money on it. Buying $2.8m in TAM costs the purchasing team just as much as sending $2.8m to Schalke—in fact, it costs more, as your next point suggests.

If I give Real Salt Lake $1 million in TAM or GAM, I haven't given them any money - only the ability to spend money. Further, that ability to spend is transferred away from me, so the net effect of the deal is no additional money being spent by the league or its teams.

Now we get into the tricky work of valuing TAM. The team selling a player for TAM doesn't get cash, true, but cap space can be even more valuable—it all depends on the team's roster and budget. For the buying team, things are more clear cut: you've spent $2.8m in cash buying the TAM and you've given up $2.8m in potential cap flexibility. Since the DP rule generally turns on what the buying team is giving up to get the player (on the uncontroversial theory that the more you give up, the better he must be), there's an argument to be made that TAM—or at least the cash paid for discretionary TAM—ought to count in some way.

I actually even wonder if it is even possible to have acquisition costs for a transfer within the league. Every player contract is with MLS, so the money simply round trips anyway. That said, it is really rare for players to be transferred within the league for cash (as opposed to TAM or GAM). I can't think of an instance off the top of my head.

Yeah, the whole question gets super weird here. I need to think about it some more, but it helps me to keep coming back to what I see as the two purposes of the DP rule: encouraging parity and financial responsibility. My intuition is that league-issued allocation works differently than discretionary TAM as far as these purposes are concerned, and a cash purchase within MLS, if allowed, would work differently still. Maybe the only real answer is that theoretical consistency is too much to ask from MLS rules and we should be happy if we can puzzle out how they work in practice.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: adam and SoupInNYC
My intuition is that league-issued allocation works differently than discretionary TAM as far as these purposes are concerned, and a cash purchase within MLS, if allowed, would work differently still. Maybe the only real answer is that theoretical consistency is too much to ask from MLS rules and we should be happy if we can puzzle out how they work in practice.

Turns out if I'd just started with the "in practice" part I could have saved myself a headache. It's not in the rules, but MLS has announced that discretionary TAM can't be traded. I assume there's some kind of corresponding restriction on using discretionary TAM toward your roster in order to free up league-issued TAM for trading purposes.

So no Lleget this season, sorry.

Also, Paul Tenorio confirms that you can't sell players for cash within MLS, which leads to weird kitchen sink deals like the Meram trade today.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: adam
Samir Nasri becomes free agent as midfielder's two-year Antalyaspor contract is torn up after five months. Do you guys think he would be worth signing (no transfer fee) and at a reasonable contract, he is 30 years old talented but troubled?
 
Samir Nasri becomes free agent as midfielder's two-year Antalyaspor contract is torn up after five months. Do you guys think he would be worth signing (no transfer fee) and at a reasonable contract, he is 30 years old talented but troubled?

If anyone can talk some sense into him you'd think it was a French NT legend like PV. But does PV want that in his locker room? Also, NYC could be a bad place for him temptation wise.
 
More articles on Ofori, from both German and Ghanaian sources. Seems it is down to getting him a visa and a physical.

Confusing translation from German is below.

Let's go to the Big Apple

WAITING FOR OFORI TRANSFER
07.02.18 06:56

1952998924-flop-ofori-1bjoRFba7.jpg


Actually everything is clear, but still the change of Ebenezer Ofori hangs on a small detail.

Since Friday there is clarity between player and club, yesterday it came on the table. But Ebenezer Ofori is still in Stuttgart - although the 22-year-old would certainly prefer to leave for his new employer today rather than tomorrow.

Ofori moves to New York! The midfielder is initially loaned to the Americans for a year, they also have a purchase option. Currently hooked it according to media reports still on the visa of the 22-year-olds for the United States.

If this is approved, it goes to the medical check and the hoped for restart. Because at VfB Ofori last played no role anymore. Even in the promotion season, he was only in demand as a joker.​


https://www.echo24.de/sport/vfb-stuttgart/warten-auf-ofori-transfer-9593150.html
https://ghanasoccernet.com/stuttgart-to-loan-ofori-out-to-mls-side
https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/...ork.33c26984-ab73-4331-a58c-eb9b694e48c5.html

To be fair, a couple of them mistake the CEO of his former club in Ghana as being an executive of NYCFC.
 
Medina a Young DP. Next year, Ofori is bought and becomes a Young DP. Medina becomes a TAM player. Everyone cool with that?
Depends on how Ofori Does this year. If he does work out that would be a great strategy going forward, loaning potential young DP's for a year to prove themselves then buying down the current young DP to make way for the new one, then selling them off like Harrison. Gives us a constant stream of proven young talent and all the sweet sweet GAM we can handle