New York City FC’s summer transfer staycation

NYCFC Source knew when to leave the party.

The anonymous account that tracked New York City FC transfer rumors and news faded to black earlier this year, not long after Sporting Director David Lee added Jovan Mijatović as the club’s eighth and final winter signing.

With that, one of the busiest extended runs of transfer activity in team history came to a close.

Lee brought in a total of 22 players since the start of 2023. In comparison, just 17 players arrived over the previous three years (including the COVID-shortened 2020 season): New York City did more business in the last three transfer windows than in the previous six combined.

New York City FC Transfers by Year/Window

* Through August 8, 2024

But since Mijatović arrived in New York City (then left, then came back), the local transfer rumor mill has been silent. We are now 22 days into a summer transfer window that opened on July 18, 2024 – and that will close in six days, on August 14 – and there are no Danish articles to translate, no Colombian posts to decode, no Tom Bogert or César Luis Merlo or Fabrizio Romano or tweets to track. The only news to surface this silly season is the possible probable departure of Talles Magno, who looks to be on his way to SC Corinthians in Brazil’s Serie A.

For those of you keeping track at home, that adds up to one player out and zero players in.

To put it influencer terms, NYCFC went from posting ski trips in Courchavel and weekends at a friend-of-a-friend’s beach house in Punta del Este to doing a video the Sonorna-style burritos at Border Town in Greenpoint and taking the ferry to the Rockaways. It’s the transfer market version of a staycation. One year, you have an all-access pass to the Miami Grand Prix, then you’re at the opening of the Sphere. The next, you’re putting pothos cuttings in mason jars to make the kitchen look more cheerful.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you need to indulge your nesting instinct and find comfort in what already surrounds you rather than looking for the next party. Let LAFC splash out on Olivier Giroud, and go after Antoine Griezmann. New York City will instead focus on getting more out of Mijatović and Hannes Wolf.

Besides, we knew that this was going to happen. Historically, New York City do most of their business in the primary window, when they’ve added 66 players, rather than the summer window, when they’ve added just 18. In 2022, when the July departure of Taty Castellanos left a Golden Boot-sized hole in the attack, the club added just one player: Matías Pellegrini. The six players NYCFC signed in last summer’s shopping spree was the exception, not the rule.

A slow summer was all but confirmed by the front office. Just last month, Lee told a media roundtable that he “definitely would expect it to be quieter” than in recent transfer windows.

“We’ve got all of our senior roster spots filled, all of our international spots filled, and so if we want to make additions, they’re either in the supplementary roster, or it will require a player on our senior roster exiting that would free up the space to potentially bring a player in,” Lee said. “So I certainly expect it to be quieter than the last three, which is I think a good thing.”

In other words: While the others are trying to do business in a marketplace dominated by European clubs, Lee is content to go to Roey’s in the West Village and get the $5 spritz and $7 margarita pizza from the Happy Hour menu, maybe see who’s spinning later that night at Public Records.

It’s not a bad way to finish the summer.

Right?

@fooodforfooodies Best happy hour I’ve found so far #nychappyhour #newyorkhappyhour #nycfoodie #westvillagefoodie #newyorkfood #westvillageeats #roeyswestvillage #roeyshappyhour #pizzahappyhour #besthappyhour #happyhourtok ♬ After life x Tongue Tied – seriousgroovesoffcial