By RYAN TOLMICH
Andrea Pirlo was spotted at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night, and it appears that New York City FC is close to making the presence of the Italian legend a much more common occurrence.
Goal USA is reporting that talks between Pirlo and NYCFC have reached the final stages, with the club potentially announcing Pirlo’s signing as soon as next week. Pirlo, who was shown to be in attendance alongside future NYCFC midfielder Frank Lampard, has now returned to Europe and does not plan to return until late July.
Should the signing of Pirlo be completed, NYCFC could debut their new signing as soon as July 26 for a home matchup with Orlando City.
Pirlo has been connected with NYCFC throughout the year, with his appearances in Manhattan in recent weeks only furthering speculation of his imminent signing.
While the team will have to wait another month or so to see Pirlo don the team’s jersey, NYCFC will see Lampard suit up much sooner, as the Englishman is set to begin training on Wednesday and is expected to feature July 12 against Toronto FC at Yankee Stadium.
In addition to Lampard and Pirlo, NYCFC are set to debut a pair of defenders in the coming weeks in the form of longtime Athletic Bilbao defender Andoni Iraola and Manchester City loanee Angelino.
What do you think of the Pirlo move? How will Pirlo and Lampard impact NYCFC?
NYCFC owners are really rolling out the red carpet with those nosebleed seats. Too bad they don’t know anyone in the Yankees front office.
I don’t care how well he can kick the ball, he can’t run fast!
Ughhh I was hoping he saw enough during the NY derby to realize that A) NYCFC sucks and he is signing for the wrong NY club; B) Playing soccer in baseball stadium for a legend like Pirlo is a shame.
Come on Andrea have some respect for yourself and sign for RBNY instead.
At least it’s grass.
yeah but what kind of grass? Playaers slip and slide entire game like they are running on Ice.
Nothings beats the grass of Red Bull Arena…as perfect as it gets.
Comparing Beckerman to Pirlo?
Yeah right.
Just like comparing a Chevy to a Mercedes!!!….
I think He should to a more praise league like liga mx because is more than just wasting money if u see in the mexican league any team can win is not about the players is about the playbook he should join monterrey or tigres they fit into juventus playbook and just look at nycfc they don’t have those runners like juve have they dont have pogba or marchisio nor vidal so bad idea for pirlo to leave juve his not a runner nor great stamina so i prefer liga mx
Wow. This team is getting stacked.
Thank God, for them, they were thinking of adding defenders. They were horrendous against the red bulls. It would be pretty embarrassing to have all that talent and that same back 4.
So he’s like a Euro version of Kyle Beckernan who can take a free kick or two?
Tell me again how mls is not a retirement league?
I love how cocky some are.
MLS is different than Juv.
Were they that cocky about Villa?
He is doing fine close ro last place. Before everyone gets all excited, blaming everyone else, I said MLS is differnt. There are two other FC teams better than theirs and 17 other teams as good or better.
Quit looking down your noses and realize this will be very difficult.
The good news: the field is small so he won’t get fatigued.
The bad news: the field is small so he won’t have as much room to spray his searching passes.
That picture looks utterly photoshopped.
lol
This is a great signing. Other than Beckham, this league has never seen the passing skills and free kick accuracy that this guy possesses. NYCFC are about to climb the standings and will make the playoffs.
Henry & Valderrama were far better passers than Beckham
And Pirlo is a better passer than all three players you’ve mentioned.
False
Where is he going to play those passes? There’s no space on that field for anyone to make runs into.
True – While he’ll still clearly be a cut above.. It may not be as apparent at the bronx..where teams might have a distant hope of bottling it up.
A video I made in the supporters section at Yankee Stadium yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJX9o-QFAvQ
rickrolled?
That still happens? Are there enough followers left on this site who know who the guy is to appreciate the joke? I don’t know if I should still laugh or not…
I think this is a bad signing by NYCFC. I like Andrea Pirlo and he is a great maestro but I do not see his game translating well to MLS. Let’s face it, Pirlo is old. NYCFC play on a small field in Yankee Stadium, Pirlo will never see a new stadium (if / when constructed). MLS is too fast and too physical. Pirlo is at his best when he has time on the ball and players that make good runs. He will not have time on the small field in Yankee stadium and other than Villa I am not sure that the players will move for him. I would rather see MLS spend on Aron Johanson, Dos Santos, Chicarito, and other younger players. Just a look across the river at the Red Bull / Metrostars can show you a history of bad signings of older foreign players. It looks like NYCFC will need to learn their own lessons.
Yeah, poor old Pirlo won’t be able to handle the high tempo and physical play of MLS, right? Have you seen him struggle against pacey England at the WC in the tropical conditions in Manaus? Or is the speed of play of MLS teams higher than that of Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, Monaco, Real Madrid and Barcelona? He faced these teams in the Champions league not long ago and made it all the way to the final. Do the likes of Chicago Fire press better than Dortmund or Atletico do when defending? Pirlo is old in soccer terms, but his game has never been based on speed. He just finished an excellent season at the UEFA champions league so he is capable of handling the challenges of MLS.
I don’t know how effective Pirlo will be. I mean look how slow Llegat is transitioning from West Ham’s reserves to MLS..
I can’t +1 this enough. Spot on. The guy can and will be great here, can’t wait to see him play.
Yeah, someone that just played in the Champions League final is gonna have lots of trouble with the speed of MLS.
Red Bulls too cheap for Chicharito
Another month? Sounds like this guy wants an extended vacation as part of the deal.
You mean the guy who just finished an entire European season? Usually a little break is nice….
There’s a little bit of Chuck Norris in that photo
Pirlo is soccer transcendence.
I will pay for tickets and travel to see this guy play in my local MLS stadium.