For the first time in history, one can write an offseason outlook piece about New York City Football Club. The MLS expansion club will finally enter the league in the 2015 season after two years of waiting. Playing temporarily at Yankee Stadium, NYCFC will have their work cut out for them in their inaugural season in Major League Soccer. Lets dive into what is in store for the club in its first season.

However, before we do that a review of the club's brief history is in order. New York City FC is MLS’ second club in the New York market. MLS had been dreaming of a New York derby between the New York Red Bulls and a second NY club, but for that to happen MLS had to get this club to actually play in the five boroughs, unlike the Red Bulls who play in Harrison, NJ.

After months of bidding and meetings, MLS announced that the second New York franchise had been awarded to a joint bid between new English Premier League powerhouse Manchester City and 27 time World Series Champions, the New York Yankees. The second closest bid had been the New York Cosmos, but MLS decided against brining in the former (and now current) NASL club to the first division. While NYCFC has promised to build a stadium within the five boroughs, City will play its first season (and probably a couple more) at Yankee Stadium, rent-costless of course.

NYCFC sought to build a relationship with fans by letting them choose the club’s crest. The final design was chosen in a large vote and was approved and made official in the first trimester of 2014. City finally had a crest, yet their still were no players. NYCFC announced their first ever player in June of 2014, when they completed the signing of Spanish superstar David Villa. Villa was signed on a costless transfer after he had helped Atletico Madrid win La Liga and advance to the Champions League Final.

Villa gave NYCFC credibility, and put the MLS on notice. The second signing, which was also the club’s second designated player signing, was announced in July at a press conference in Brooklyn. City announced that they had signed Chelsea superstar Frank Lampard to an 18 month contract, and all seemed well. All seemed well until December, when what is now known as "Lampardgate" emerged.

Let's address "Lampardgate" now. For those who did not know, Frank Lampard was “loaned” to EPL club Manchester City, as NYCFC wanted Lampard to keep himself in game form before the MLS season. What NYCFC and Man City didn’t expect is what would follow. Lampard played a pivitol role for Man City early in the season, scoring key goals of the bench for Manuel Pellegrini’s side. Speculation over in the UK started to arise that Man City wanted to keep Lampard for the reminder of the season. Eventually the rumors came to fruitation, with Lampard staying with the Manchester based club until July, missing three months of the MLS season.

NYCFC and MLS fans felt disrespected, as they should be. They were mislead that they were buying tickets and jerseys in assumption Lampard would be there from day one, and all parties involved should have been more clear from the beginning. Lampard in July had signed a 6 month contract with City Football Group, the umbrella company of all the City clubs. After Man City decided to keep him in town, he signed on another 6 months, with an official MLS contract never being signed. Eventually Lamaprd did sign with MLS and NYCFC, and he will arrive in July.

Besides Villa and Lampard, the club’s two designated players, manager Jason Kreis and company were busy to add and build the rest of the squad. City were able to sign some former MLS players such as Josh Saunders while also trading for MLS players such as Jeb Brovsky who was acquired from the Montreal Impact. The club was able to add ten more MLS players through the expansion draft alongside fellow expansion team Orlando City. The club then went on to add multiple players through trades and signings while also drafting in the MLS Super draft. NYCFC also added United States Men’s National Team player Mix Diskerud using the allocation order. City was able to pay of most of his salary through allocation money, thus not making him a designated player. Here is the current squad (without Frank Lampard):

No.-Position-Player-Nation

3 Defender Kwame Watson-Siriboe United States

4 Midfielder Andrew Jacobson United States

5 Defender Jeb Brovsky United States

6 Midfielder Matt Dunn United States

7 Forward David Villa (DP) Spain

10 Midfielder Mix Diskerud United States

12 Goalkeeper Josh Saunders Puerto Rico

— Midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy Morocco

— Midfielder Connor Brandt United States

— Goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald United States

— Midfielder Ned Grabavoy United States

— Defender Jason Hernandez United States

— Defender George John United States

— Midfielder Tommy McNamara United States

— Goalkeeper Ryan Meara (on loan from New York Red Bulls) United States

— Defender Andrés Mendoza Ecuador

— Forward Patrick Mullins United States

— Forward Khiry Shelton United States

— Forward Tony Taylor United States

— Midfielder Sebastián Velásquez Colombia

— Defender Josh Williams United States

— Defender Chris Wingert United States

NYCFC and its supporters can now have a look as the squad is close to being finalized. The club can still add a designated player, but that likely will not happen until the European summer transfer window.

NYCFC will make a couple of stops during their preseason preparations. The club will be traveling to Jacksonville, Charleston, and Manchester before the start of the MLS regular season. The players will convene as a team for the first time in Jacksonville, Florida for a week of team training. The team will train at Patton Park in Jacksonville from January 24th to February 2nd, 2015. The club will then train for two weeks at the new Manchester City training facility. Jason Kreis’ team will play two exhibition matches during a 10-day training camp at the City Football Academy.

New York City FC open up the season with a trip to Orlando City Soccer Club, in a battle of newly formed MLS clubs. It should be a dandy, as City face a racious crowd at the Citrus Bowl against Kaka and co. NYCFC’s first ever home game comes the following week against defending Eastern Conference champions when the New England Revolution travel to Yankee Stadium. Lampard’s first match could occur July 4th against Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, and new Toronto FC star Sebastian Giovinco.

While we are still a couple weeks away, the squad looks like it is almost set, and fans are eagerly awaiting the start of the season.