When NYCFC was launched in 2013, sporting director Claudio Reyna took over a barren cupboard of players and staff and built up the club from scratch.
Seven years later, NYCFC has established itself as a consistent postseason contender — it leads MLS in total points across the last four seasons (231) — and has established an identity largely built on unearthed talent and savvy personnel moves.
Now, David Lee will be the man to lead the club forward.
Following Reyna’s departure to expansion outfit Austin FC to serve in the same role, Lee was promoted to sporting director on Nov. 21. He detailed his ambitions and plans for the club in an exclusive interview with The Post on Friday.
“Claudio did an unbelievable job with this franchise for the first six years that he was here,” Lee told The Post over the phone from the club’s preseason camp in Orlando.
“To build what’s being built now… it’s all down to the work that Claudio did.”
The club looks far different than the one Lee joined in 2014 as its director of player recruitment. Gone are “household names” like David Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo — so too are the club’s three previous head coaches.
Yet last season was a banner year for NYCFC. Led by players such as Maxi Moralez and MLS debutant Heber, it recorded the most points in club history (64), finished first in the Eastern Conference and qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time.
The franchise’s solid structure has created a well-drilled, attractive offensive side, but also one which has yet to deliver in the playoffs. New York lost 2-1 to Toronto FC in the conference semifinals last season, and has never made it past that point.
So would New York — which paid just one player (Moralez) a top-50 base salary last season — entertain another high-priced signing?
“We had a really, really strong squad [last season] and we had the best season in our history,” Lee said. “There’s no right answer to it. Every club, every market has different needs, but I think we want to evaluate those as they come up.
“If there’s an opportunity that’s right for us as a club, and right for the team and right for our ownership and for the franchise, then we’ll want to pursue those.”
For now, Lee and the club are focusing on building the club’s depth, promoting players from its title-winning academy (like Joe Scally and James Sands) and identifying unearthed talent. Lee rattled off Ben Sweat (formerly of the NASL) and Sebastien Ibeagha (USL) as players who have become important squad members for NYCFC after joining from the lower tiers of US soccer.
“I think in MLS it’s also absolutely integral that you get players at good value,” Lee said. “When you have a salary cap to spend you have to try to choose all your dollars as wisely as possible.”
“The reality of sports, the reality of soccer is there are players perhaps in other situations who would benefit from a new environment.”
The next in line to assume that title could be Gedion Zealem, a former Arsenal product who the club signed last week. The 22-year-old moves to New York having most recently played for Sporting KC last season, and will hope to benefit under new manager Ronny Deila’s tutelage.
Deila, who formerly coached Celtic and joined from Norwegian club Valerenga, has coached the likes of Real Madrid’s Martin Odegaard and Liverpool stalwart Virgil Van Dijk. Now, alongside Lee, he’ll look to get NYCFC over its playoff woes.
“I think we’ve been really, really close, and we would’ve liked to have a run deeper than we have had before now, Lee said. “But we’ve got a squad that’s absolutely capable of that this year.”