December Rumor Mill Wrapup

Silly season is in full swing in Major League Soccer. Players are being linked to NYCFC on a daily basis with seemingly dubious connections. In order to cut down on the endless posts that would be associated with them all, we’ve complied the latest players linked to NYCFC for you all on one page. As a bonus, an inside look at how NYCFC scouts their players.

Kesiuke Honda

Honda has been linked to both NYCFC and MLS in the past. This time the rumor mill is buzzing due to a report from Webcalcio.net which states that the Japanese midfielder was set to leave Milan this January with NYCFC as a likely suitor.

Not to be outdone in the rumor department, further reports from Italy linked him to MLS as well, but with Seattle and LA Galaxy as his likely next teams. Aside from that initial report, there has been no real link of Honda to NYCFC. Honda recently opened an academy in Los Angeles.

Miguel Camargo

Leer bien: MIGUEL CAMARGO jugará en NY CITY en el 2017. Alex Armijo lo confirmó en #DuroAlHueso. pic.twitter.com/CAUvwynZHG

— Álvaro Martínez (@duroalhueso) December 28, 2016

According to Panamanian reporter Alvaro Martinez, Miguel Camargo will be part of NYCFC next year. A few days prior, he reported that Camargo was staying in Venezuela. As of this writing we have been unable to verify talks between Camargo and NYCFC.

Camargo is an attacking midfielder who currently plays for Venezuelan club Mineros. His contract is set to expire at the end of December.

Federico Bravo

The defensive midfielder who was on loan with NYCFC last year from Boca Juniors was being considered by NYCFC to be a permanent move. Bravo’s contract with Boca Juniors is set to expire on December 31st, and NYCFC were reluctant to pay the buyout fee for the midfielder which is believed to be close to $1 million. If NYCFC sign him after January 31st, he will be a free transfer.

Boca Juniors would like to make a profit on Bravo and Greek club AEK Athens is reported to be interested in his services. According to the report both Boca Juniors and AEK are working together to find a deal where the midfielder would join the Greek side in January.

Ebenezer Ofori

We covered this one last week. He was linked to NYCFC according to reports from Ghana, however AIK’s Director ended those rumors by denying any interest in the player from foreign clubs at the moment. What struck many as peculiar was NYCFC itself reporting on the news. Since then Ofori has joined the Ghanan national team’s provisional squad ahead of the 2017 African Cup of Nations, scheduled to start in January. He has since been linked to West Ham.

Jeppe Andersen

We also covered him last week. He was linked to NYCFC according to reports in Denmark. As of last week we have been able to confirm that his contract expires in mid June. Andersen continues to rehabilitate his knee while his club Esbjerg fB remain on break until mid February. This news was also covered by NYCFC.com, however nothing new has developed since then.

Márcio Araújo

This one is more of a joke than an actual transfer rumor. Márcio Araújo is a defensive midfielder who plays for Brazilian club Flamengo. There are a few fans who are not too happy with his recent performances, they felt even more aggrieved when there were reports he would get a contract extension.

A group of fans led by @Dryzinho_praero compiled a highlight reel along with a list of his statistics from last season and impersonated his agent in order to try and pitch him to teams in MLS and China.

While that in and of itself is comical, the best part is that one of those clubs responded. ESPN Brazil managed to get a hold of the emails between the fan and clubs and found that NYCFC apparently was the only club that responded to the inquiry (even if it was an auto response) it’s enough to elicit a chuckle. Below is a reproduction of the email:

Much to the dismay of the fans behind the project, Araujo’s contract was extended yesterday.

With that, we leave you until 2017 (unless something breaks between now and then) as we don’t expect any major news until January. Happy New Year from all of us here at NYCFC Nation.