New York City FC may have only just started preseason camp in Jacksonville, Florida this week, but count us among those who are already freaking out. In a good way. Because we watched the video just above this paragraph. Go ahead. Skip to the 1:35 mark. Do it.
We realized that new goalkeeper Sean Johnson was the first NYCFC player ever to don the number-1 shirt, which has to represent a real vote of confidence for the player. We also noticed that third-overall SuperDraft pick Jonathan Lewis has donned the number-17.
Yes, this Akron Zip is standing on the shoulders of Chris Wingert! I know! I know.
The hopes for Lewis, a Generation Adidas player and MLS Combine MVP who turned pro after just one year in the college ranks, are rightfully high. Along with Miguel Camargo and Sean Okoli, he represents a further advance of the Bronx Blues’ youth movement in the attacking portion of the field, and will have every chance to compete for playing time in 2017, assuming his manager isn’t playing mind games with us.
(He tends not to.)
Elsewhere on the training pitch, it’s too early to know how many of NYCFC’s currently unsigned draft picks and trialists will end up under contract with the senior team. But as soon as we hear any news, we’ll be god-damned if we can’t find a video to pore over to try to figure out which numbers they’ll be wearing on the back of that famous Etihad shirt.
h/t NYCFC via YouTube