Moussa Sylla, the FC Schalke 04 striker who multiple in-the-know transfer insiders said was heading to New York City FC, now appears set to stay in Germany after his €7 million move fell apart at the finish line.
Multiple reports from outlets in Germany like Kicker and Sky Sports Germany indicated that the Sylla transfer hit a snag over concerns raised by NYCFC during Sylla's medical exam, supposedly conducted during the middle of last week in Manchester, England – the European base of operations for City Football Group, owners of New York City FC.
New York City reportedly tried to renegotiate the terms of the deal to sign Sylla after conducting the medical, but Schalke didn't find common ground on any of the new terms proposed by NYCFC and City Football Group.
Hudson River Blue Staff
According to Kicker, New York City reportedly has concerns about an old knee injury suffered by Sylla, as well as what translated from German as "certain signs of wear and tear in the 26-year-old," leading them to try to switch the terms of the deal, even floating the possibility of arranging a loan for Sylla rather than an outright sale.
No deal was reached on what was transfer deadline day in Germany, and Sylla took to his personal Instagram account this evening to address the swirl of rumor and speculation about his future, posting blue and white heart emojis (the club colors of Schalke) along with the message "SchalkeFansYou [sic] are crazy I'm coming home. MS" on his Stories.
Back on January 25, a sequence of out-of-the-blue reports emerged stating that Sylla was on his way out of Schalke and to New York City FC.
Schalke put out their own statement acknowledging they'd reached an agreement in principle to sell Sylla to another club, and Florian Plettenberg of Sky Germany was the first reporter to declare he'd be joining NYCFC – with Tom Bogert of The Athletic later confirming Plettenberg and stating that Sylla would arrive as a Designated Player, with NYCFC "buying down" Thiago Martins with Targeted Allocation Money to make him just a regular non-Designated Player on the team's roster.
Andrew Leigh
Had this transfer come to fruition, Sylla would have become a second straight big-money attacking DP added after Nico Fernández Mercau last summer, and he would have become the team's presumptive starter at striker. Now, New York City and Sporting Director Todd Dunivant are back to the drawing board as they try to replace the goals lost with Alonso Martínez sidelined as he recovers from the ACL injury he suffered last fall.
There's still Nico, who started at the No 9 when Martínez missed time with injury late last season, and there's still teenaged prospect Seymour Reid – and Talles Magno and Maxi Moralez are both back to offer alternate options on the wing and as a central attacking midfielder, should Fernández Mercau start up top, though Julián Fernández is gone as an option to fill in on the right-wing or maybe centrally.
A Designated Player slot would remain open, if the Thiago Martins buy-down reporting is accurate and if the team intends to keep Talles on the roster all season.
It's also worth noting that the MLS Primary Transfer Window officially remains open until March 26, which is a very different transfer schedule than the one adhered to by teams in Germany like Schalke.
Reporting on the Schalke side indicated that they wouldn't sell Sylla at this point now that the European transfer windows have closed, since they'd be unable to sign a replacement.
Sylla-to-New York City looks dead and buried at this moment, given the lack of culmination after the "done deal" talk from a week ago and the player's latest comment on Instagram, but money is money, and NYCFC can still do business for many more weeks, so it's possible we may get more twists in this Moussa Sylla Transfer Saga.
