Jeff Rueter examines the history of New York City’s Designated Players in the final chapter of his ongoing series.

At last: the finish line.

In 2015, New York City FC joined MLS with the financial backing of Manchester City’s parent company. The league cited a desire to put a team in the heart of New York, given the Red Bulls’ placement in Harrison, NJ. Much like their British sister club, NYC was given a massive budget for Designated Players, looking to make a splash.

In a sense, they’re the biggest competitor to the LA Galaxy in terms of bringing global stars into the league. The Red Bulls have shifted their focus from marquee names like Henry, Cahill, and Marquez to players that fit their system like Wright-Phillips and Kljestan. David Beckham’s Miami project can’t get off the ground, and Toronto, while having an absolutely deadly trifecta, has benefited from two USMNT players choosing them as home.

Obviously, New York City won’t be a good allegory for what to expect from Minnesota United (or even Atlanta, for that matter). However, it’s a worthwhile exercise to rate three of FIFA 06’s finest players. Afterwards, I’ll give a couple of general takeaways from this Designated Report experiment.

All transfer sum numbers from Transfermarkt.
All salaries thanks to MLS Players Union surveys.
An asterisk (*) indicates a player who signed their DP deal mid-tenure with club.

Previous installments:

Introduction to Series and Updating Chart of Profiled Clubs
DC United: C
FC Dallas: C+
Columbus Crew: B
Sporting KC: B-
New York Red Bulls: B-
San Jose Earthquakes: C
New England Revolution: C+
Los Angeles Galaxy: B+
Chicago Fire: C-
Colorado Rapids: B-
Real Salt Lake: B
Chivas USA: B-
Houston Dynamo: D
Toronto FC: B+
Seattle Sounders: B
Philadelphia Union: C-
Portland Timbers: B
Montreal Impact: B-
Vancouver Whitecaps: C
Orlando City SC: B-

New York City FC (joined MLS in 2015)

FAVORITE FRUITLESS RUMOR: Iker Casillas, February 2016

David Villa (2015-Current)

Age When Signed: 33
Average Base Salary per Season: $5,610,000
Goals+Assists per 90: 0.886

Pre-DP:
The Spanish national team’s all-time leading scorer has found success at every step of his career. He came up with Sporting Gijón, making his debut at 19 for the senior side before spending two years at Zaragoza. In 2005, he was sold to Valencia for $15 million, ending up as Valencia’s highest goalscorer in 60 years in his debut season. He was a Ballon d’Or nominee by 2010, allowing Valencia to cash in on him by selling Villa to Barcelona for $46 million. He scored 33 goals across three seasons before heading to Atlético Madrid in 2013, scoring 13 goals in one season as the club won their first La Liga title since 1996.

DP Years:
In June 2014, Villa informed the world that he would be leaving Madrid for “an irresistible project.” The next day, he was unveiled as the first player for NYCFC, setting a goal to make the team “the best in the league.” He was the club’s captain from day one, setting up Mix Diskerud for the team’s first goal. All told, he ended his debut season with 18 goals and 8 assists across 30 matches. He was just as hungry the next year, scoring 23 goals and adding 3 assists this season as he led NYC to the two-seed in the Eastern Conference. This week, he was announced as one of the top-three vote getters for the MLS MVP trophy.

 

Grade: A+
A couple things separate Villa from fellow expansion franchise Orlando City’s Kaká. First, it’s the swashbuckling look he’s been rocking late in 2016. Most notably, it’s a nearly impeccable bill of health, a tireless motor and drive on the pitch, and a very clear objective to make New York City a soccer city. He has plans to renew his contract after next season (sorry, Tottenham and Arsenal) and establish academies across the city, making him one of the league’s best players and best ambassadors.

Frank Lampard (2015-Current)

Age When Signed: 37
Average Base Salary per Season: $6,000,000
Goals+Assists per 90: 0.849

Pre-DP:
Lampard is one of the greats of the latest English Golden Generation (unless he’s lined up alongside Steven Gerrard, am I right?). He made his debut at 17 (in 1995) for West Ham United, earning 148 appearances and scoring 24 goals in six years. Before the 2001/02 season, he was sold to Chelsea for $13 million, where he promptly made 429 appearances, scored 147 league goals (over 250 in all competitions), and was a fixture for the Three Lions, making another 106 caps and scoring 29 goals. He was released after the 2014 season, leaving his playing career in flux.

DP Years:
There was a bit of controversy with his status from here. He was announced as a NYC player before their inaugural season, looking to join from the start. Then, he was “loaned” to Manchester City, but later it was revealed that he never signed with NYC and ended up playing the entire 2014/15 season for Manchester. Finally, he arrived in the Big Apple for the fall, but he was clearly fatigued and suffered from a growing bill of injuries. He ended up missing the first dozen games of the MLS season as well, leading many to call him the worst DP in league history. He silenced his critics, scoring 12 goals in 19 games this year while adding 3 assists, leading to an appearance on the Comeback Player of the Year list this fall.

 

Grade: B-
No, he isn’t the worst DP that MLS has ever seen (that title safely resides with Rafa Marquez). However, the full twelve months of “will he, won’t he?” only added fuel to the slowly-fading “retirement league” fire stoked by outside observers of the league. At 38, he had quite a resurgence; that said, signings like this are not sustainable for any team. The fact that he earns more than Villa makes this even more unforgivable.

Andrea Pirlo (2015-Current)

Age When Signed: 36
Average Base Salary per Season: $3,800,000
Goals+Assists per 90: 0.398

Pre-DP:
The Italian playmaker made his debut for Brescia at 16 years old in 1995. He spent a few years with Inter Milan, ultimately flaming out and spending most of his time on loan with Reggina and Brescia. From there, he was sold across the city to AC Milan, where he flourished for eleven years across 284 appearances. He earned a reputation as one of the best pure passers in the history of the sport, able to create from the back in a deep-lying position while curling in precise free-kicks. He then moved to Juventus in 2011, playing for 5 years and helping The Old Lady to continental prominence. Along the way, he made 116 caps for the Italian national team, being named to the 2006 World Cup Best XI as Gli Azzurri won the Cup.

DP Years: 
With results harder to come by without a prominent creator in the midfielder, NYC was able to acquire Pirlo on a free transfer in the summer of 2015. He made 5 assists in his 13-game debut season, finishing third in MLS in terms of minutes per pass. He showed incredible durability for a player of his age in 2016, starting 32 matches and adding 11 assists, even scoring once off of a bending free kick. He’s also shown an affection for grilling in the American summer. You can’t make this stuff up.

Family' s BBQ … Like a real American boy! ???? pic.twitter.com/TczlZVReVZ

— Andrea Pirlo (@Pirlo_official) June 30, 2016

 

Grade: B
I know you’ll scoff at the high marks given his lack of defense. I’ve seen the clips (RIP Vine). That said, Pirlo’s legacy was never built on backtracking runs and near-post defense. He was always going to be an all-time quarterback for New York, and he’s done that better than just about anybody in the league. Like Lampard, though: making multiple signings like this won’t be sustainable.

By the way: his grilling style gets an F. A metal table fork on a grill? Poor form.

New York City FC Recap:

Average Signing Age: 35.3(!!!!)
Average Base Salary: $5,136,667
Average Grade: B+

Yes, this seems obscenely high. No, I won’t doctor the average grade of the three.

Looking at the big-budget signings in history, I’ve noticed a trend: with the rare exceptions like Marquez, these huge stars are rarely capital-f Failures. For the few teams that can afford to house players like Lampard, Gerrard, or Defoe, there’s always an added incentive of marketing and notoriety that comes with a big-ticket signing. Of the top 20 earning DPs, only Marquez and possibly Tim Cahill could be called relative wastes of money. There’s a reason these guys command a big price tag.

That said, players like this aren’t the norm anymore. In total, 20 DPs have earned salaries of $2,000,000 or higher over the duration of their MLS careers. It’s the tier below (between $1M and $2M) that houses such colossal disasters as Julian de Guzman, Shaun Maloney, Nery Castillo, and Kris Boyd. Players in this range don’t often have the buzz that the $2M+ crowd does and pose a higher risk to the league.

My biggest takeaway from this: if you can’t spend big, look for players that cost less than $1M. There’s an inherently lower risk of wasting funds on players like this, and quite often they can be key contributors to a team (looking at you, Diego Valeri, Ignacio Piatti, and Fredy Montero). For a team like Minnesota United that isn’t in a global market like New York or Los Angeles, that should be a breath of fresh air.