Editor's note: This column first appeared on Tuesday morning. It has been updated following the official acquisition of Sacha Kljestan on Wednesday afternoon.
It's a measure of the average fan's love of individual potential that RBNY Twitter blew up about the loss of one Ambroise Oyongo in the hours after Tuesday morning's New York-Montreal trade. This is the same Oyongo who's never scored an MLS goal, who was beaten like a drum when played at fullback against good teams, and who plays winger as a "stay out wide, whip in a cross" throwback rather than a modern, goal-dangerous, all-around attacker.
He is an unpolished gem. Jesse Marsch and Ali Curtis probably didn't have the luxury of waiting around to grind down the rough edges and figure out how and if he fits. Somewhere in that 300-page plan, Oyongo's picture was next to the words "tradeable asset."
On the flip side, most New York fans hardly said a peep about the loss of Eric Alexander, who is probably as good as he's ever going to be. Which is to say, quite.
Joe is tickling the gods of sample size right there, and making a false equivalency since Alexander and Oyongo played different spots on the field. But taken either in a vacuum or within the context of the league's central midfielders as a whole, Alexander was both good and reliable. He played all 68 regular season games over the last two years in Harrison, he contributed seven goals and 11 assists, and once he'd settled permanently into that No. 8 role in late summer, he showed the defensive chops and positional acumen that has earned him call-ups to the US national team under both Bob Bradley and Jurgen Klinsmann.
Alexander has become expert at forming connection of the sort that – on and off the ball – are the currency with which games are won. He and Dax McCarty made both each other and the team better in central midfield, which is basically the highest compliment you can give any sub-superstar soccer player. I'm sure that was tough for the RBNY front office to give up.
But it's what they got back that made the trade a "must" for them. With the No. 1 allocation spot they
have pried
Sacha Kljestan
away from Anderlecht, bringing the sometime USMNT midfidler home after five largely successful years in Europe. Kljestan is a rich man's Alexander, a No. 8 with superior vision and daring who makes those same force-magnifying connections that Alexander does (including at various age groups for the US alongside McCarty), but also has the individual chops to crack the game open on his own.
He is an upgrade.
He is also a natural fit with McCarty, and the move comes with the side-benefit of mailing a poop sandwich to the LA Galaxy. It's been known for a few weeks now that both teams were after Kljestan, but LA played their cards too early when they only traded up to the No. 3 spot in the allocation order.
(It's bizarre to see Bruce Arena, long the gold standard for shrewd front office operations, make the same mistake for the second time in six months. But since this is LA, they'll probably figure out a way to turn that No. 3 spot into, at the very least, Bobby Wood).
The Red Bulls also got a No. 10, something the fanbase has been screaming for since 2006 and something vital to the 4-2-3-1 I'd expect the new regime to trot out. Felipe had a borderline Best XI year under Marsch back in 2012 when he ranked fifth in our annual 24 Under 24 on the strength of four goals and 10 assists, and while his numbers have dipped under the two subsequent regimes, he's still got 12 goals and 24 assists before the age of 25.
Thus the disconnect that those RBNY fans I mentioned earlier seem to be having. Felipe is only nine months older than Oyongo, but because he's been a regular in MLS for three years now, it doesn't feel like he oozes potential. And the truth is, as an individual Oyongo's ceiling is probably higher.
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But
once (if) the Kljestan deal goes through
now that the Kljestan deal has gone through, New York have a central midfield of proven MLS players featuring complementary skillsets, two of whom have USMNT experience, and one who's got significant UEFA Champions League time under his belt.
All of them are under 30. All of them should make each other and the team better, and ensure a steady supply of service for Bradley Wright-Phillips up top, which is probably the most useful connection of all.
Nobody should project any titles for RBNY just yet – there are still giant questions in central defense, depth worries up top and at fullback, and a gaping hole at left midfield – but the spine is now spoken for. Together they make the team's ceiling as a whole much higher.
After a month of unsettling news, RBNY Twitter should take some time to blow up about that.
