Ahead of the 2015 SuperDraft, MLSsoccer.com is breaking down each team's needs and potential draft targets. New York City FC, like all expansion teams, has holes to fill all over the pitch.
New York City FC have not had a quiet run-up to their inaugural season, mostly because of The Lampard Question.
Said question (which is now answered, I guess?) has overshadowed the quality, methodical work that Jason Kreis and Claudio Reyna have done to build this roster. Yes, they're clearly going to rely upon some ex-RSL guys. Yes, they still need to figure out how to set up an academy that will funnel some of the endless local talent into sky blue colors. And yes, there are maturity questions surrounding one of the most talented guys on their roster -- attacker Sebastian Velasquez, who stands to play a lot of those minutes Lamaprd would have gotten.
Regardless, this team is packed with quality pros and has one obvious goal-scoring super-star in David Villa, who should be a Golden Boot favorite right out of the gate. That's a good start no matter who Lampard is playing for at the moment.
NYCFC SuperDraft selections: #2 (1st round), #23 (2nd round), #44 (3rd round), #64 (4th round)
NYCFC Depth Chart: 19 players
Goalkeeper (3): Ryan Meara, Josh Saunders, Akira Fitzgerald
Left Back (1): Chris Wingert
Center Back (4): Andres Mendoza, Jason Hernandez, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, George John
Right Back (2): Jeb Brovsky, Josh Williams
Central Midfield (4): Ned Grabavoy, Mehdi Ballouchy, Andrew Jacobson, Matt Dunn
Attacking Midfield (2): Sebastian Velasquez, Tommy McNamara
Forward (3): David Villa, Patrick Mullins, Tony Taylor
Primary Need: Kyle Beckerman
I'm only kind of joking. The fact is they need either Kyle Beckerman or a reasonable facsimilie in order to run the diamond midfield, which is (I think) what Kreis wants to play. Grabavoy, Ballouchy and Dunn can be/have been shuttlers, while Jacobson has usually played box-to-box in his pro career. Velasquez should get most of the run at the No. 10 spot until Lampard arrives, while McNamara is suited either for that or the shuttler role.
Three wild cards at play in the above analysis: First, we don't know for sure that Kreis wants to play the diamond. Second, Grabavoy was able to, at times, step into the Beckerman role and play it well for RSL. It's not out of the question that he moves to a fulltime No. 6 in the Bronx. And third is that I haven't seen enough of Dunn to say, for sure, that he can't play d-mid. Kreis may have seen something there that I missed.
Even with all of that, NYCFC are going to take the best talent on the board. That'll be one of three guys.
Targets: FWD Cyle Larin (UConn / GA), MF Cristian Roldan (Washington / GA), FWD Romario Williams (Central Florida / GA)
Secondary Need: Left Back
Picking from that trio at No. 2 leaves NYCFC to address a specific need at No. 23. Wingert was excellent in 2014, but time marches on and he needs an understudy (I'm assuming Brovsky's going to be a fulltime right back). There are two left backs who could be on the board early in the second round, and both of them have the sort of overlapping, attacking chops that Kreis values.
Target: Jordan Murrell (Syracuse), Jose Ribas (Creighton)
SUPERDRAFT TEAM PREVIEWS
- Columbus Crew:Step by step, second time around for CCSC
- Colorado Rapids:Can Mile High Club find a contributor late?
- DC United: One more piece for one more step
- Houston Dynamo:One decade later, a new era begins
- LA Galaxy:Recalibrating a championship machine
- Montreal Impact:Building out after a promising stretch run
- New England Revolution:Suddenly great, but plenty of need
- New York City FC:Feeling kind of blue east of the Hudson
- New York Red Bulls:Another new era in Jersey
- Real Salt Lake: Not quite a rebuild in the high desert
- San Jose Earthquakes: Recapturing that Goonie magic
- Toronto FC: Trying to solve the eternal problem in Ontario
- Vancouver Whitecaps:A full roster for Cascadia kings
- New England Revolution:Suddenly great but plenty of need
- Phildelphia Union: Building around the core
- Seattle Sounders:Nothing glaring for Shield, USOC winners
- Sporting KC:Filling it all out after a mini-rebuild
- Chicago Fire:Endless questions in the Windy City
- Portland Timbers:Draft & stash with T2 up and running
- Orlando City:Is there a trade for No. 1 in the works?
