Why New York City Can't Replace Justin Haak | OneFootball

In Kai Trewin, New York City FC has already found its replacement for Justin Haak, the versatile defender/midfielder who left on a free transfer to LA Galaxy this offseason, but however good Trewin is, Haak brought a value to the Pigeons that can’t be replaced: the link to the hometown, to the local fanbase, and part of building a distinct, New York identity for this still relatively young American soccer team.

Major League Soccer franchises, especially, can struggle to take root in local communities, dropped into a city as they are from above, rather than grown from a local area or a community as a more traditional sports club might be.

Add to this the fact that New York City is part of a wider multiclub ownership group, defined mostly by the top club in this group, Manchester City, and it becomes even more important for the New York branch to distinguish itself from others by fostering a character of its own.

It is for these reasons that MLS franchises need to make the most of the local links they do have.

One way these are created is through the work of local fans who adopt the team when it arrives, usually in the form of supporters’ groups, but also simply by regularly attending games.

Local supporter media often emerges, too, and NYCFC has some of the best in the league. One of the upsides of MLS’s lack of coverage in mainstream national or local media is that it offers certain levels of access to this supporter-produced media. This is a good thing and something of which the league and any clubs that facilitate this should be proud.

This media attached to both the team and the fans is a vital part of building identity, but another major way a team can build links with the city, borough, or neighbourhood in which it plays is by fielding players from these areas.

At the top level of soccer, regardless of the city in which it is played, producing local players of the required quality to become a first-team regular via a youth academy or reserve league, MLS Next Pro in this case, is quite rare.

This is why a player such as Haak is so valuable to a team like New York City FC.

Haak grew into a first-team regular under Nick Cushing, but it was under Cushing’s successor and current head coach, Pascal Jansen, that he really found his role in the side.

This was not just a player performing a useful job as a homegrown member of the roster, but one whose rather unique role regularly made him the focus of opposition analysts. Haak’s ability to play in midfield and provide an option for cover in the center of defence urged Jansen to create a role especially for him as a kind of box-to-box central defender.

MLS is a good league for trying new and sometimes unusual tactics, whether with an entire team, as done so successfully by Montreal Impact and Columbus Crew coach Wilfried Nancy, or in isolated positions, as in Jansen's use of Haak.

This made Haak even more valuable to the team. Not only was he a player with roots in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but his role was uniquely important to the team regardless of homegrown status.

New York City FC did realise the player’s value, but perhaps not early enough, as his contract ran down and he was able to leave on a free transfer to LA Galaxy.

From a player’s point of view, a move away from home can be enticing. An American swapping New York for Los Angeles isn’t necessarily a snub of his hometown team.

Some sportspeople also like to experience new things and travel to new places through their profession, and challenge themselves to leave their comfort zone. The drive and motivation that can lead to a player progressing through an academy to a senior team in the first place can also lead to them moving on to seek new experiences and challenges.

A recent high-profile example of this was Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool. Trent, born a stone's throw away from Liverpool’s historic training ground, Melwood, felt like he had given his all for his boyhood club and sought a new challenge in Madrid with his friend Jude Bellingham.

Haak’s situation is not exactly the same, but there are parallels in the fact that he left on a free transfer (which means the club itself is at least partly to blame as it didn’t recoup a fee), and left the club he had been with for ten years, man and boy, as he felt he wanted to try something new.

Neither party is necessarily at fault or to blame here, it’s just the natural and understandable progress of a soccer player's career, but if those in charge of the sporting direction at NYCFC can do more to make sure their best local academy players keep their links with the organization for longer, then they should, espeically if those local links are as good at soccer as Haak.