Jack Harrison has acquired a green card after living in the United States for six years. (Derik Hamilton/USA Today Sports)
New York City FC has positioned itself to be able to add another international player to its roster as three players have received green cards as permanent residents in the United States.
They are midfielder Jack Harrison (born in England), goalkeeper Eirik Johansen (Norway) and defender Ronald Matarrita (Costa Rica).
Translated: as residents, they no longer will occupy international player slots. The Blues using nine out of a possible 10 international player slots.
Each MLS team starts every year with eight international players slots.
After leaving in the United States for six years, Harrison is now a resident of the country. He left England at the age of 14 becomes a resident of the U.S. to attend the Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass. before joining NYC FC as he was selected in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft.
Johansen left Manchester City FC for the MLS side in March 2015 and made his debut for the team in the Lamar Hunt/U.S. Open Cup loss against Cosmos in June 2015, before making his MLS debut against Columbus Crew in October 2016.
A Costa Rican international, Matarrita signed with City from Alajuelense in January 2016 and has made 25 regular-season appearances, scoring twice.
NYC FC acquired one extra spot in 2016 and 2017 as part of the trade that sent Patrick Mullins to D.C. United and the 10th spot for this year came from Colorado Rapids in exchange for $75k GAM (General Allocation Money) Feb. 10. Both of those spots will expire at the end of this season.
Canadian-born Kwame Awuah is considered a domestic player as part of the Generation adidas Canada initiative – a joint taskforce between MLS and the Canadian Soccer Association.
In alphabetical order, City’s international players:
Fred Brillant
Alexander Callens
Miguel Camargo
Maxime Chanot
Yangel Herrera
Maxi Moralez
Andrea Pirlo
Alex Ring
David Villa
