Late yesterday, New York City FC made the surprise announcement that Sporting Director David Lee will depart the club to take the positions of President of Soccer Operations and General Manager at Sporting Kansas City. Lee's last day at NYCFC will be Monday, October 6.
In this edition of the Hudson River Blue Roundtable, John Baney, Andrew Leigh, Matthew Mangam, and Oliver Strand look back on Lee's six-year tenure as sporting director, and the record he leaves behind at New York City.
Hudson River Blue Staff
Lee's mixed legacy
Lee deserves full credit for the 2021 MLS Cup win. The spine of the team belonged to his predecessor, Claudio Reyna, who brought in Alex Callens, Maxime Chanot, Taty Castellanos, Maxi Moralez, and Sean Johnson. But Lee added key players who got the team over the line, including Malte Amundsen, Alfred Morales, Santiago Rodríguez, and Talles Magno – who, let's not forget, scored the 88th-minute game-winner over Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference Final when he was just a 19-year-old. It's safe to say that without them, there would be no trophy.
At the same time, Lee should be held responsible for the dysfunction of the 2023 squad that won just nine games and missed the playoffs in what was easily the most disappointing season in club history. The exodus of talent after the end of 2022 is now seen as a fait accompli, but I'm not so sure that the club had to be gutted. Lee sometimes left negotiations until late, and it feels like he could have done more to keep a few key players to maintain continuity.
But the real problem with 2023 was the complete denial that it was a rebuild. Lee's public message was that NYCFC remain competitive, every season, no matter what, but his actions said different.
From the square-peg-round-hole failed experiment of turning Talles Magno into a striker, to selling the team's top goal-scorer, Gabriel Pereira, in the middle of the season, Lee threw in the towel that year. But he didn't own up to it at the time, and his statements set expectations that the team simply couldn't meet — and that the public put on Nick Cushing, who was the only one who could be held to account by the media. Lee's decisions made financial sense, but the lack of forthrightness strained relations between the club and the fanbase.
Here we are two years later, and a roster that is 100 percent Lee's are now one of the most complete and deep squads we've seen play for NYCFC. Lee's mixed legacy, which includes New York City's biggest triumph and biggest disappointment, might see another chapter as the team he built finishes out this season, and could return largely intact next year.
– Oliver Strand
Andrew Leigh
Pascal Jansen is a huge get
On the whole, David Lee’s body of work is pretty impressive. To highlight the punchline of Tom Bogert’s initial scoop, no MLS team has taken home more points than NYCFC since Lee’s hire in 2020. Add that to an MLS Cup win in 2021, and a pair of diamond-in-the-rough finds in Alonso Martínez and Matt Freese, and you’re leaving behind a heck of a sporting director resume. Frankly, it’s a great hire for Sporting KC.
But you don’t have to dig too deep to unearth the fan frustrations that have been bubbling up around Lee for a few years now. The "exodus" Oliver mentions above included losing Callens, Johnson, Chanot, Jesús Medina, Ismael Tajouri-Shradi, Anton Tinnerholm, Gudi Thórarinsson, and Alexandru Mitriță – ALL on free transfers – and that's really tough to look past from a roster-building perspective.
This, combined with a palpable lack of urgency to sign replacements, some big misses among those replacements, and a repeated tactic of loaning out big-ticket players to increase their transfer values – Castellanos, James Sands (x2), Talles Magno, Jovan Mijatović – all but doomed NYCFC to failure in the years following their MLS Cup.
That said, Lee went a long way to repairing his reputation amongst fans in his final months at the club. NYCFC are rounding into form at just the right time, and are doing so off the heels of what appears to be an excellent summer window with the signings of Nico Fernández Mercau and Raul Gustavo. And, at this stage of the season, it’s clear the appointment of Pascal Jansen was a huge get for NYCFC.
While it wasn’t always rosy, Lee may've departed the club just as the fruits of his labor had begun to bloom.
– John Baney
The 2025 squad is Lee's best work
The tenure of David Lee will be looked back on with mixed feelings from NYC fans.
Credit where it's due: Lee's tenure was also highlighted by a keen eye for youth development, while consistently finding ways to flip players for profit season after season. I almost don't need to add that he created the team that ultimately achieved the dream and won MLS Cup in 2021.
However, transfer business in recent years shifted focus from on-field results to returning the largest profit, as any attempt to sign new players would seemingly drag on until the last possible moment. Multiple players left the club on free transfers, while others were sold for massive profits, and both left gaping holes in the squad that weren't adequately filled.
This 2025 season is the result of Lee's front office bouncing back. The signings of Freese, Martínez, and Hannes Wolf, among others, who are all flourishing under Jansen, show how he planted the seeds for another contender to rejoin the fight.
— Mark Radigan
Oliver Strand
Lee was good for NYCFC
David Lee was a great sporting director for New York City.
Yes, some of his transfers completely failed — like Mijatović and Matías Pellegrini — but he's also responsible for Freese, Martínez, and more.
You have to give him credit for the 2021 MLS Cup, although I do believe that he kept Nick Cushing at the helm for too long.
Like Oliver mentioned, 2023 wasn't a good look for Lee. It took too long for the club to bring in players, and he's at fault for the team missing the playoffs. That season was a rebuild, no question about it.
But I think he leaves the club in a great place. The team looks solid, and Pascal Jansen was a great hire. I have no doubt that he'll bring success to Sporting Kansas City.
— Matthew Mangam
Hudson River Blue Staff
Secretive until the end
Lee kept his movements as secretive as possible until his last day in New York City. There was no real indication or rumor that he was looking elsewhere or on the verge of a split with NYCFC, right up until it was announced.
Lee’s exit is a shock to the system, given just how long he’s held the role. His legacy is about the length of his service, on top of all the players he bought and sold and drafted and traded and developed.
The rosters he built were consistently good and consistently imperfect, though he bought himself leeway for misses on the market by selling some of his players for significant profits, namely Pereira and Castellanos.
Under Lee, New York City teams got more focused on unlocking the performance and profit potential of high-priced, high-ceiling young players, but it sometimes felt like the desire to make the perfect move meant no move got made. Or that the potential to turn a tidy profit for CFG was more of a priority than keeping NYCFC as good on-field as they could possibly be.
— Andrew Leigh
