Mix Diskerud won’t be playing for NYC FC this season. (Geoff Burke/USA Today Photo)
By Michael Lewis
Front Row Soccer Editor
Mix Diskerud is no longer in New York City FC’s mix.
The Major League Soccer club Thursday exercised its one offseason buyout of a guaranteed contract on the veteran midfielder as it announced its roster for the coming season Thursday morning.
Diskerud, however, will remain under contract with Major League Soccer.
According to MLS roster rules and regulations, this is the mechanism that NYC FC used:
A club may buy out one player who has a Guaranteed Contract (including a DP’s) during the offseason and free up the corresponding budget space. Such a buyout is at the MLS club’s expense.
A club may not free up room in the salary budget with a buyout of a player’s contract during the season. In the case a team buys out a player’s contract during the season, the buyout amount will be charged against the club’s salary budget.
The news of Diskerud’s departure should not come as a surprise, considering the midfielder’s disappointing performance the past two seasons.
Diskerud, 26, endured a tough 2016, falling out of favor with the U.S. national team and his club team. He was an invisible man for most of the season at Yankee Stadium.
He earned $761,250 guaranteed last year, according to the MLS Players Union, which doesn’t make the U.S. international a highly sought-after player because he would put most, if not all teams, over the salary cap.
On Sunday, Diskerud penned a poem about his pending departure.
He wrote:
He went on to say; “the message is clear –
unless you’re clueless – ’cause you’ve lived it all’year
since the budget is tight
and binding contracts might
not need to be broken if…. you crack, kneel or leave the hemisphere”
There was no immediate comment from head coach Patrick Vieira or Diskerud, who is a man without a team, but not without a league today.
The City roster features 12 new offseason additions, including new Designated Player Maxi Moralez, 2015 MLS Cup champion Rodney Wallace, Venezuelan international midfielder Yangel Herrera, former Chicago Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson and international midfielder Miguel Camargo.
Peruvian international defender Alexander Callens, Finnish international midfielder Alex Ring and United Soccer League MVP Sean Okoli also were on the roster as well as first-round MLS SuperDraft selections Jonathan Lewis and Kwame Awuah.
The roster:
Goalkeepers
Eirik Johansen
Sean Johnson
Andre Rawls
Defenders
RJ Allen
Kwame Awuah
Frederic Brillant
Alexander Callens
Maxime Chanot
Shannon Gomez
Ronald Matarrita
Ben Sweat
Ethan White
Midfielders
Miguel Camargo
Yangel Herrera
Mikey Lopez
Maxi Moralez
Tommy McNamara
Andrea Pirlo
Alex Ring
John Stertzer
Rodney Wallace
Forwards
Jack Harrison
Jonathan Lewis
Sean Okoli
Khiry Shelton
David Villa
