Maxi Moralez: “It was a simple and quick decision to return. We love the city. ” (David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports)
Returning to New York City FC was never a problem for Maxi Moralez.
“This was the easiest decision we’ve made as a family,” Moralez told the media, as his NYCFC teammates prepared to host Minnesota United at Citi Field on Sunday.
“It was a simple and quick decision to return. We love the city. We love this club. We’ve been here for the last six years. My daughter was born here. So we’ll see where soccer goes.
“We’ll see how long I continue playing but I’m really happy and really excited to be back and we’ll see what the future holds.”
Moralez, who accrued a club-record 69 assists sin 162 MLS matches, left City after the 2022 season to play for Racing in his native Argentina, the first professional club for which he performed.
“When I left, I thought that was the last stage of my career,” he said. “I thought I was going to play the rest of my playing days in Argentina but things weren’t like that when we got there.
“I thought I was coming down to play and be a key player and help develop a team, but the coach made his decisions. I just didn’t get the playing time that I was looking for and on top of that going back to the country it wasn’t the same as we thought.
“It was a quick turnaround had very short and quick conversations with Dave. I had a conversation with Nick and they both welcomed me back to to this project. I know the role that I have to play here which is to help out the team in any way possible.
“I’m really happy to be able to come back.”
Moralez, 36, is wearing number 27, in contrast to the number 10 he wore since joining the MLS club. There is a reason why he has the new number. When he left NYCFC, he gave 10 to teammate Santiago Rodriguez.
The veteran midfielder said that “27 was the number that I played with in my professional debut.”
“So it’s a number that means a lot, it’s the number that I just played with in Racing. Coming back to the club, obviously, Santi is the new number 10. I’m really happy to be wearing the number 27 because it means a lot to me.”
