How Emil Forsberg Fits with NYRB

One of the splash moves that the New York Red Bulls made this offseason is to have Emil Forsberg come from its sister club RB Leipzig. The 32-year old Swede is moving on a $3.3 million swap, which would reinforce the midfield.

The midfield last year was a bit suspect as there wasn't that much fluidity from the defense to the strikers as teams were able to overwhelm the midfield. Forsberg is more of an attacking midfielder similar to the role that Luquinhas held for the last two years.

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Forsberg has also played in all games in the Champions League playing at least 50 minutes in the six games of the group stage. The questionmark is the fact that in the majority of the Bundesliga season he was in the bench in eleven of the sixteen games. He has played in fourteen, five of which are starts. This was an increase from the previous year where he in twelve games (last game was in November due to the World Cup) played in at this point in the Bundesliga. He matched his starts from this year like the year prior but there is a cause to be concern due to his age and the schedule of the MLS.

I don't doubt that the acquisition is a good but I would've either promoted someone from the academy or bring in a younger player of a similar profile. The nature of the MLS schedule means that the teams are guaranteed to play cross country or travel great distances every week with an ocasional midweek game in either the US Open Cup or in the Leagues Cup. This was evident in the way that Inter Miami did not have Messi play at the end of the season as the team played 11 games in the months of September and October.