NYCFC sign Alexandru Mitriță to Designated Player contract

After months of speculation, New York City FC have finally announced that Alexandru Mitrita has joined the club on a permanent transfer from U Craiova — and will be on a Designated Player contract — ahead of the 2019 season. The final price was reportedly $8.5 million.

Mitrita — who is only 23 — has been linked to the club for a few weeks now. The Romanian is highly touted and was having a great season with Craiova ahead of his being sold, scoring 12 goals and logging 6 assists in 16 total appearances. Those kinds of numbers are extremely impressive and represent an obvious void in NYCFC’s current game, at least since David Villa has moved on — goalscoring.

If Mitrita can bring the same attacking prowess he showed in his home country of Romania, then the ceiling is high on what he can accomplish in North America. Armed with pace and technical ability, manager Domé Torrent sees Mitrita as a versatile forward who can fill a plethora of roles. “We’re very happy to have signed Alexandru because it was one of our main objectives in the offseason,” Torrent said. “He’s a dynamic and versatile attacking option who can play in many systems.”

MLSSoccer.com also published an extensive scouting report for Mitrita, and even compared him to former Toronto FC star Sebastian Giovinco — a player that Mitrita himself has referred to as an influence on his game.

Mitrita has already joined up with the club and has participated in training. I’d definitely expect him to be involved in Friday’s friendly against Swedish club AIK.

Welcome to the club, Alexandru! Give ‘em hell!