New York City FC coach Jason Kreis reportedly was in England on Saturday clinching the acquisition of World Cup-bound stars Frank Lampard and David Villa.
He met with former Chelsea midfielder Lampard and Atletico Madrid striker Villa at Manchester City’s Carrington complex to complete the formalities, according to the Mirror. Manchester City co-owns
New York City FC with the Yankees, the team scheduled to begin play in MLS next season at the Stadium.
According to the Mirror’s report, New York City FC will join the league with two bona fide stars already on the roster. Either would be a quality signing for New York City FC, both would be a coup.
Lampard, 35 — who won three Premier League crowns and a Champions League title in 13 seasons at Chelsea — is headed to the World Cup with England. He reportedly rejected a one-year contract extension in London — where he was making 7.3 million Euros (approximately 9.95 millon) a year — to come to New York.
Villa scored 13 goals this past season to lift Atletico past super powers Barcelona and Real Madrid to claim la Liga, and helped them advance to the Champions League final before falling to crosstown rival Real Madrid. He will head to Brazil with Spain in hopes of defending their World Cup title.
New York City FC had no comment. Former U.S. National Team captain and Manchester City midfielder Claudio Reyna is New York City FC’s director of football.
If Lampard does come to New York, he may have some apologizing to do. He was among a quartet of Chelsea players who were fined in 2001 for drunkenly abusing grieving Americans at a Heathrow hotel 24 hours after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.