With the enthusiasm and delivery of a common salutation, New York Cosmos Coach and Technical Director Giovanni Savarese apologized for starting his press conference a few minutes late Tuesday afternoon — and dropped a major tease to kick off the questioning.

“Just coming out of a meeting that could change the future of our club,” he casually blurted.

What that meeting was about is anyone’s guess as Savarese only offered, “We are in a good situation, we are on a good path for what we are trying to accomplish and hopefully we can know sooner than later what we are searching for, that is going to consolidate for what we want to build in the future.”

What can it be? Well, the Cosmos have had several potential projects delayed over the past months that could be of the “franchise changing” variety. Their chase for former Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez has been well documented. Both club and player have been flirting with each other since late last year. This week, that flirtation came to a head with the former Al Sadd player attending Saturday night’s 0-0 draw against Indy Eleven. With the NASL roster freeze taking effect this past Monday, sources have told EOS the Cosmos are aiming for Raul’s arrival next year.

“Raul is observing everything in the area and he is assessing our club and everything he has seen,” Savarese said. “The good thing is to have had a player of his caliber in our stadium with his family, with the ambitions to be a part of our project. It was a good thing for him to be there to get to know more about our project, where we play, our fans and everything we are doing. I think it was a positive day.”

Of course, Raul is not the only pending, franchise-changing project on the horizon. The Cosmos’ Belmont Stadium proposal is nearing its second year since being submitted to the Empire State Development Corp. for consideration in the revitalizing of an underdeveloped property on the border of Queens and Nassau County. With the coming Governor’s election, there has been little support or talk of the bid from affected politicians.

However, in a recent supporters’ forum, Cosmos COO Erik Stover expressed confidence that the club would hear something by “November or December” regarding their bid, adding the Cosmos submission is the likely favorite amongst other offerings.

“The last thing Nassau County needs is another strip mall,” Stover deadpanned.

Considering Savarese’s title in the organization, player acquisitions would certainly be under his purview. However, the former Metrostars striker is also a valued part of the club’s leadership. It would be no surprise if he were involved in talks over Belmont as well.

For now, whatever the meetings may be about, Savarese is certainly pleased with how talks are going.

“Definitely,” he said, “we have been having some good meetings”