New York City FC CEO Brad Sims is confident about one thing when it comes to the club.
If you’re a star player looking to make the jump to MLS, how could NYCFC not make sense for you? And that includes Christian Pulisic.
Sims on Thursday confirmed the club’s interest in the American soccer star but noted that “my understanding is that he is not available at the moment” in a conversation with The Post.
“If you’re buying into MLS and you’re a high-profile player, you know New York City is going to be at the very top of the vast majority of people’s list,” he said. “That’s a competitive advantage for us, and then you see what we’re doing with building the ‘Cathedral of Soccer’ for this sport, and not just in New York, but in this country.
“And the direction of travel for our club and the sport in this market, we’ve got a great story to tell. I think that high-profile players will be very interested in coming here, and so we’ll see how it works out in the future.”
Pulisic is still under contract with AC Milan for another two years, but whether he is looking to stay with the struggling Serie A club is less certain. Multiple reports had already indicated that AC Milan was not looking to move him right now, and Pulisic has not publicly commented on his future there.
Word of NYCFC’s interest in Pulisic first surfaced last month, and Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the club was prepared to make a massive offer to Pulisic to entice him stateside.
Sims said MLS “is very interested in having him in the league” and that if he were to become available, “safe to say we would be interested.”
NYCFC is moving into a new stadium next season, and a player of Pulisic’s caliber would fit the bill for a splashy move to excite the existing fanbase of the club, along with the casual New York sports fan.
Sims told The Post that the club’s vision is to take the mantle as the “undisputed flagship franchise of Major League Soccer.”
Part of doing that would include building a consistent contender on the pitch, having a first-class facility and a flagship player. Sims described Pulisic as “qualifying” as a flagship player and said that if and when the Hershey, Pa., native became available, there would be a process in trying to acquire him, though he wasn’t sure what that would look like.
The NYCFC exec did note that there will be plenty of competition for Pulisic, should he become available, mentioning his experience playing in the Premier League, along with interest from other MLS clubs.
