New York City FC: Alexandru Mitrita could never replace David Villa
Domenec Torrent has stated that Alexandru Mitrita is not a David Villa replacement. And he is right. For New York City FC, there is no one player who could replace Villa.
When Liverpool sold Luis Suarez for £75 million, they did not try to replace him with one player. They signed Mario Balotelli, Adam Lallana, Lazar Markovic and Rickie Lambert, among others.
Three-and-a-half years later, when Philippe Coutinho followed in Suarez’s Barcelona footsteps, Liverpool again reinvested in the near £150 million fee in several different players, including Virgil van Dijk, Naby Keita and Fabinho.
When Tottenham Hotspur sold Gareth Bale for top dollar in 2013, they again spread the £90 million out across different areas of the squad. Some of the players they signed did not work, but they also uncovered players like Moussa Dembele, Christian Eriksen and Paulinho.
While all of these transfers did not necessarily bear fruit, they signal a clear understanding from the clubs that the individual brilliance of the players they were losing could not be replaced by another, singular footballer. That responsibility had to be spread out over a whole squad, such was the quality of the departee.
This offseason, New York City FC lost the best player in franchise history. David Villa was the club captain, the record goalscorer, the record appearance maker, one of the very best players to ever play in MLS. To think that New York could replace a player like that by simply magicking another one out of thin air is foolish.
And Domenec Torrent, speaking this week about new DP signing Alexandru Mitrita, who many have posited could be the Villa replacement, confirmed that there is no directly replacing a player of Villa’s sheer brilliance:
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"“I say many times it’s not easy to replace a player like David Villa. He has everything, you know. He has [the] name in the soccer, he has [the] performance, he has goals. It’s not about who replaces David. It’s not about that <…> He’s [Mitrita] another DP, he’s different as a DP, yes? David played as a striker and this player can play in different positions in our team.”"
Put plainly and rather bluntly, Mitrita could never replace Villa. There are few players in world football that could replace Villa, even at his ever-increasing age. And there are even fewer players that could replace Villa and be willing to play in MLS. Those that have the ability to typically want to play in Europe.
That is no slight on Mitrita. He could still turn out to be an excellent signing for NYCFC. Torrent, in the same interview, was keen to talk the Romanian up. It is simply a statement on the excellence of Villa, showing how difficult it is for any player to step in and replicate his leadership and his impact on the pitch.
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Mitrita is not a Villa replacement. Almost no player is. But the fact that Torrent knows that is a great thing for New York. This must be a collective process.