New York City FC’s three Designated Players sat down with various media outlets during Major League Soccer’s media day.

DAVID VILLA

Sports Illustrated:

In a Sports Illustrated article written by Grant Wahl, David Villa talks about how he has met with head coach Patrick Vieira twice to talk about his objectives for the season.

Villa also told Wahl, “The most important thing in your career is to win titles. I want the fans to be happy. I want to play here a few more years and leave people with a good memory of me and what I do on the field.”

Villa is also excited about all the young talent around him but he is really impressed with New York City forward Kwadwo Poku. Villa told Wahl, “The growth of this kid and his desire to get better – I’ve seen very few players in my career like this. Obviously he is young and needs to learn more things with respect to physical conditioning, but if we can help him he will be incredible in the future.”

Read the full story here.

ESPN FC:

In a short interview with ESPN FC, David Villa discusses rest in the offseason, offers from European teams, and playing in Yankee Stadium in front of thousands of loud, passionate NYCFC fans.

ANDREA PIRLO

Sports Illustrated:

Andrea Pirlo reminisces about playing against head coach Patrick Vieira

In a Sports Illustrated article written by Grant Wahl, Andrea Pirlo discusses playing against New York City FC head coach Patrick Vieira.

Pirlo told Wahl, “I do have some very special memories of when I played against him, especially when I won the final of the World Cup (2006) against him. That was an extremely important game, but I really think that he’s going to be as good as a coach as he was as a player. We are all ready to help him do his job in the best possible way so that we can have a great advantage together.”

Read the full article here.

FRANK LAMPARD

Sports Ilustrated:

In an article for Sports Illustrated written by Grant Wahl, Frank Lampard talks about Patrick Vieira and the preseason.

Lampard told Wahl, “With Patrick he’ll bring his experience and know-how from working in Manchester. I saw that when I was there. We’ll take in his ideas. It’s a long preseason, and we’ll try to get the team together.”

Read the full article here.

ESPN FC:

Frank Lampard discusses Patrick Vieira’s appointment, rest in the offseason, and playing cohesively as a team in the upcoming season.