With two years until their new stadium opens, the City Football Group club is focused on both the present and the future
David Lee knows what the perception is. The NYCFC sporting director is aware that the City Football Group-backed side haven't had a big name star since 2018. He knows, too, that some eyebrows were raised when a busy offseason included moving on from three key pieces.
From the outside, this appears to be a team treading water – especially with $780 million stadium set to open in 2027. Looking for a big name club in a big market looking to spend even bigger? You've come to the wrong place.
Except, that's not the plan. NYCFC, he insists, are being intentional. They want to focus on cultivating youth, getting the best out of returning players, and supplementing it all with key signings in positions that need immediate attention.
And more broadly, it all points towards long-term ambition. NYCFC insist they can finish in the top four of the Eastern Conference this year, while also competing for trophies outside of MLS. The goal here is sustainability. This team insists that they have all of the right pieces in place.
"I think what we've tried to do – and what we've been asked to do, what we've been asked as a football club – is to build a team that can compete for trophies as often as possible, and to do that in a financially responsible way for our business," Lee told GOAL.
Getty Images Sport'I'm not sure if there's pressure'
In December 2018, David Villa walked out of the training ground for NYCFC for the last time. He had been a fine servant to the club across his four years in New York. A 2016 MLS MVP, four-time All-Star, and top all-time club goalscorer – it was hard to ask more of a player who had spent the majority of his career tearing up the Spanish top flight. Since then, though New York has looked a markedly different squad. This was once a club of Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo, later managed by Arsenal legend Patrick Viera. It all looked rather glitzy.
Now, though, there are no more stars in New York – at least, not in the traditional sense. Instead, money has been spent on the kind of signings that move the needle in MLS, but might not sell shirts worldwide. Maxi Moralez, Santi Rodriguez and Taty Castellanos have all, at various points, been crucial for the club, Lee argued.
"I think Max is a star. I think Taty is a star. Santi Rodriguez is a star. But we haven't had a star name in terms of the global, European lens of what that looks like since 2018. So it's been quite a while," Lee said.
In that time, though, NYCFC have developed something far more sustainable. They have only failed to make the playoffs twice. Their business has been smart, as looking outside American borders has served them well. They won MLS cup in 2021, a value-for-money South American star scoring the goal that got them there. But even that player, Talles Magno, admitted that this was by no means an easy league.
"A problem was that I left Vasco da Gama with the idea that the MLS was not so strong, but it was totally different from what I had expected," Magno told ESPN. "I thought I'd be in the first team, and be one of the best, but everyone was faster than me. It was a shock for me. I had to work hard to develop this. The game there is quicker than in Brazil, the ball circulates faster and the teams are more compact, one player close to the other, with a lot of physical contact. It's more like Europe than Brazil."
Advertisementfradi.hu'Experience winning and winning regularly'
In that light, then, the hiring of Pascal Jansen makes plenty of sense. The former Ferencvaros manager has been pursued by City Football Group in some capacity for almost 10 years. The global football network, that has 13 clubs on six continents, first initiated contact as early as 2015. And they have remained in talks.
"We've been in conversation ever since, not on a monthly basis, but now and then, and once New York was really interested in investigating if I would be interested to come this way, it became more intense," Jansen told GOAL.
In Jansen, they believe they have the right man. He has been on the New York radar for some time due to his intensity and playing style. Top to bottom, Lee thinks he's a perfect fit for the club.
"We want to be a team that creates lots of chances, to be entertaining," Lee said. "We're here to provide something for the fans that they want to come and watch. And we want to control the game in possession. If we don't have possession, and we've got to try and win possession back as quickly as we can. So, on a very philosophical level, that's the highest sort of points that we can go to."
There is also the appeal of being a winner. Jansen won more than 50 percent of his games for AZ. Hungarian side Ferencvaros were clear title contenders when he left the post in December.
"We wanted to find a head coach who had experience winning and winning regularly, because I think we've got a group that we're really excited about, and what we feel like is a base of a really talented group," Lee said. "And so it was important for us that he's got 200 games behind him, and is highly experienced."
IMAGN'I really don't mind if it's a guy who's 16, 17 or 37'
He will approach this all with an interesting squad. NYCFC were among the youngest teams in MLS last year. In sending James Sands to St. Pauli and Jovan Mijatovic to Belgian side Oud-Heverlee, they have gotten even younger. But simultaneously, key pieces all over the pitch have been retained. Players that accounted for more than 80 percent of the minutes last season are still in the squad. NYCFC believe that they have a group that can grow together.
"What we don't want to do is sign players that sort of block somebody's pathway from earning those opportunities," Lee said.
Jansen has bought into that from day one. He made it clear to Lee that he wanted to work with the group he had immediately before jumping to any conclusions about transfer business. He didn't want to hear about any options, in fact, until he had taken training.
"The first meeting we had in New York – and we were presenting some of the options we were looking at – and, his first reaction was 'I'd really like to train the group, if that's possible," Lee said. "I've seen you play a lot, I think I know what I've got, but it's very different till you actually get in the middle of a training session."
It is that kind of philosophy that has served NYCFC well in recent years. Starting goalkeeper Matt Freese, for one, was an afterthought two years ago. Now he is among the best in MLS, and knocking on the door for the national team. Jansen has embodied that in previous roles. He started his career working for PSV's youth teams, and, historically, has been willing to give young players a chance to thrive.
"I really don't mind if it's a guy who's 16, 17 or 37," Jansen said. "You will be held accountable for whatever is expected from you. So that, in my approach, has helped me create a lot of clarity in how we work and how we understand each other."
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NYCFCThe future
NYCFC's roster is yet to be filled out, Lee emphasized. There is still room for something to happen here, and with the transfer window open until April, there is always a chance that they could strike if the right deal shows up.
"if there's a global superstar that becomes available, and we think is interesting and makes sense from both a football and a business perspective, then we should pursue it," Lee said. "And you know, those opportunities we don't think of have fell right into our hands right now."
Meanwhile, Jansen has been going about preseason diligently. He has been surprised by how difficult the team has found his intense fitness regime, he said, but is starting to see signs of a side that he believes can compete in MLS.
The key here, he admitted, is consistency. New York ran hot and cold last year – something that ultimately cost them over the course of the campaign. A bit more of that and New York expects to be among the top four of the Eastern Conference. Getting there means a focus on the basic things.
"What I just focus on is making sure that I get my ideas, the jobs that I require on field and off field, and the responsibilities that come along with it, to make them really crystal clear," Jansen said. "So what I've introduced working with my boys now is also shared responsibility and taking accountability."
Where, exactly, those principles take NYCFC remains to be seen. This is a team operating shrewdly in a big market – something fairly unique in the scope of not only MLS but also in American sports culture. But it seems the pieces might just be aligned for a future that unites both stability and success.
"And that is one of the things that drives us every day, to be competitive with all the teams, in order to compete for what we're looking for: top four and competing for a trophy," Jansen said.