HARRISON, N.J. – Former Manchester United and Everton manager David Moyes was in attendance, a new player went through his paces on the training field, and multiple members of the front office were seen in discussions with unknown outsiders.
There was a real sense that something big was coming on Friday during the New York Red Bulls' morning training session. But ultimately nothing out of the ordinary happened, and that will likely be the case again on Monday's as the MLS roster deadline comes and goes.
Clubs have until Sept. 15 to make final tweaks to their squads before they're frozen for the remainder of the 2014 campaign, but the Red Bulls don't anticipate making any last-second moves despite sporting director Andy Roxburgh’s admission last month that he was working on three moves.
One came to fruition with the acquisition of forward Saer Sene via a trade with New England, but unless something too good to be true comes up, that seems to be the final move New York will make this season.
“It’s highly unlikely now because what we’re going to do is to work with the group that we’ve got,” Roxburgh told MLSsoccer.com. “That’ll be our focus. We’ll not be making any moves at this time. You can never say never – you never know – but it’s highly, highly unlikely that we’ll do anything now.”
Roxburgh, who received what he called just a friendly visit from an old friend in Moyes, did not reveal specifics regarding the two other moves he was hoping to finalize.
Head coach Mike Petke poured cold water on the unnamed player present at Friday’s training, saying he was just there as a guest and that no signing was forthcoming.
“It’s not a trial, it’s not anything like that,” Petke told MLSsoccer.com. “He’s from Red Bull Brazil, sister club, and their technical director is here just meeting and creating a relationship. They asked if they could bring one of their young players just to get some work in, and that’s the only reason he’s here.”
One other topic that was lightly broached Friday was the uncertain future of star striker and captain Thierry Henry, who is in the final year of his contract but has insisted he will wait until the end of the season to make a decision on whether to continue his legendary career.
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Roxburgh – despite stating in early August that both he and Henry had a good idea of the direction the 37-year-old Frenchman was going in – stayed mostly mum. He admitted that they're in regular contact, but that there was nothing to reveal at the moment.
“There’s nothing to declare at this stage,” said Roxburgh. “The facts are that this is the last year of his contract. That’s a fact and we’ve talked on many occasions, but at this stage neither Titi or myself have got anything really concrete to say about it.”
Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.
