By DAN KARELL
New York City FC may very well get one of their earliest Designated Player targets after all.
The club was very close to signing Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez last summer, only for a phone call from Barcelona head coach Luis Enrique to scupper those plans. But in an interview with TV3 Esporte in Barcelona, Reyna confirmed that NYCFC could very well add Xavi as the team’s third Designated Player this summer.
“We are very interested in ‘franchise’ players, like Xavi,” Reyna said in his interview. “The door is not closed. We will see. For sure we will need to bring in a third ‘franchise’ player in the summer.”
NYCFC currently has two Designated Players on its books in forward David Villa and midfielder Frank Lampard, who is expected to join the club in July.
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What do you think of this development? Do you see Xavi coming to the USA to play this summer? Would he be a good fit with NYCFC?
Share your thoughts below.
I would let him go to a Middle East team, simple as that. If he comes, let him go to red bull or another MLS team, spread the love.
Nycfc should go after a young powerful DP and dump money on their front door like tfc and galaxy have done it.
Money talks and NYC is a huge market, if I was nycfc I would make cr7 or messi sign an underground contract with nycfc before galaxy or Miami do it. But nycfc should go for Giovanni do santos from Mexico, he’s not a starter any longer and he would definitely do the jump. Money talks my friends,
If these older guys are brought in prepared be player/mentor then absolutely. How many of past DPs on on the old side have really brought that attitude with them? I don’t have time to follow closely enough to know, but it seems like its been pretty hit or miss with this category of player.
Sorry guys i know i will get ripped for this as being petty etc.. But after years of ignoring it i now must speak. When you are saying someone is better THAN someone else you are grammatically correct. When you are saying ,”than that wont work.” That is grammatically incorrect. You should say, Then that wont work. Many seemingly intelligent people make this mistake and i finally spoke out. If your grammar and punctuation are better THAN mine, THEN please feel free to correct me. And btw, im a Dynamo fan who is very excited to see NYCFC and OCFC join our growing league. Happy to hear about the deal with Sky Sports as well. More MLS coverage in the UK may mean more younger players make the jump when they see what is being built here. Peace. Out.
I would go after Danny Alves or Wesley Sneijder. Hopefully a new CBA rule will allow for 4 DP’s in the summer, especially with Sky Sports showcasing MLS games in Europe.
Maybe they can lure Ronaldo away from the NASL.
There is a lot of risk with bringing Xavi to MLS…he has been with Barca in that system his whole life, so unsure to know how he would play with lower level talent around him. He’s used to playing on a team that usually has around 65 percent possession and will not find that with any MLS team.
The physicality might be another thing, MLS is a higher tempo league, lot of athletes, little technicality.
I have also heard that he has little patience for lower quality players (for example he goes crazy when teammates make simple screwups). Imagine him passing to some journeyman making $75k a year.
Stay away, NYCFC, stay away. Let him go to Qatar and get a big payday if he wants that.
I’m generally on the side of getting away from 35+ DPs being signed but Xavi and Pirlo are two players I’d love to see in MLS.
Old School. Agree wholeheartedly. Stay away from aging players on big money. However, there are a few exceptions to the rule that may prove worthwhile.
Yes. The question is are you buying talent or just the name? If a big name player is just coming off of a season at Barca, Tottenham, etc, Those guys must have something in the tank, you don’t decline that quickly. Now if you try to get big names that are a few years removed from that, like signing Ronaldinho right now, that would be riskier. I wonder about Kaka. He is somewhere in between (and some injury history). Claudio Lopez was a bit removed from his Lazio days. Denilson was a few years removed from La Liga.
It’s also about attitude. If you come into MLS thinking you’re better than everyone else than it’s not going to work. Travel and artificial turf are other considerations that might make older players less attractive.
So right, and when you consider that the other DP’s are Lampard and Villa, I think the team would almost certainly have to be good. The only problem would be the frustration level of the 3 DP’s having to play with such lesser talent.