New York City FC (NYCFC) plans to sign a striker before the winter transfer window closes on March 26, sporting director Todd Dunivant has confirmed.
Pascal Jansen’s side has started the season well, picking up four points from tricky away games against LA Galaxy and Philadelphia Union.
However, with striker Alonso Martinez on the sidelines until summer as he recovers from a ruptured ACL, NYCFC has started both games without a recognized striker, with Nico Fernández Mercau deputizing as a number 9.
Dunivant, who took over as sporting director at the beginning of the year, said Tuesday that the club has a “list of names” that it is targeting ahead of the close of the transfer window later in March.
“We want to get the right guy,” Dunivant said. “We’d love to get him today or tomorrow. If that doesn’t happen, we’ll wait, but we don’t want to.”
Dunivant said the club is looking for players that can replace Martinez’s “pace and verticality” but said NYCFC will not “turn away” other profiles.
“Whether its within the league or outside the league, we’re keeping all our options open at this point.”
NYCFC CEO Brad Sims also expects to make acquisitions before the close of the window, adding that the club’s focus is on “improving the team now.”
“Historically, we’ve added more key pieces in the summer window because it’s a better time of year to be able to add,” Sims said. “But our focus is on improving the team now, before the end of this window.
“My guess is that we would add in this window and in the summer window as well,” Sims said.
Sims, however, said the club views the return of midfielder Keaton Parks, who is available after recovering from a lengthy injury last season, as a new signing. Similarly, the club will view the return of Martinez and Andrés Perea as new signings when they return from long injury spells in the summer, Sims added.
“In the summer window, we’re going to add Andrés Perea and at some point, we’re going to Alons0 (Martinez) back, but I think the plan is to add somebody to the mix now,” Sims said.
Speaking on the eve of NYCFC’s opening game of the season against LA Galaxy, Jansen insisted that the club “has to do better” than last season, when it lost out to Inter Miami in the Eastern Conference final.
Sims believes that the current squad is good enough to improve on that performance by either winning the Eastern Conference or winning the MLS Cup, despite limited recruitment so far.
“I think we have a team, as does Pascal, that can compete and win trophies this year,” Sims said. “However, we are most definitely looking to improve and add to the squad.”
NYCFC will host its home opener against Orlando City at Yankee Stadium this Saturday.
