New York City FC have lately been to the Eastern Conference semi-finals and were ranked by Forbes Magazine as the seventh most valuable franchise in MLS last year. They are a club who, despite not picking up any silverware since their inception in 2015, are in a good place and one who not many people would be in a hurry to leave — especially if, as their very first employee, you had built and overseen its entire structure.



It is not as though Claudio Reyna left without clearing his desk but nor has he been longing for life back in the Big Apple since taking up the role in November of sporting director at Austin FC, the latest start-up franchise set to join MLS in 2021.



Since retiring as a player in 2008 after an impressive if injury-hit career that included spells at Rangers and Manchester City, Reyna has taken to the boardroom, becoming sporting director at NYCFC — a member of the City Football Group — in 2013. After helping to build a modern club...