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Barcelona veteran Márquez joins New York Red Bulls
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By Grant Wahl
August 4, 2010
Harrison, NJ — Why now? Why would 31-year-old Rafael Márquez --captain of Mexico, Barcelona veteran, a player who can still compete at the highest level -- turn down interest from clubs all over Europe to join MLS's New York Red Bulls? That was the question I put to Márquez on Tuesday during a quiet moment after his presentation as the newest member of MLS's most upwardly mobile team.
"If I stayed in Europe maybe I would have played for two years more, and afterward I would be looking again for another team," said Márquez, who added that he signed for three-and-a-half years with New York through the end of the 2013 season. "In Europe with Barcelona I have won all the titles. Coming to New York is something different, something new, in a league that's growing.
That's what motivated me."
Talk about a game-changer for MLS. In a period of three weeks New York has signed two big names who two seasons ago played major roles in Barcelona's European trophy rampage: Thierry Henry and now Márquez. Both had seen their playing time dwindle in the Nou Camp last season, but both appear to still have plenty to give on the field.
And that's where these moves will help most: the field. I'm not convinced that Márquez will cause an extended attendance spike for the Red Bulls among Mexican-American soccer fans in the New York City area, but he will bring an immediate talent upgrade to a team that already has Henry and Juan Pablo Ángel up front. Coach Hans Backe says he'll use Márquez at the base of a diamond in the central midfield, a change from his days as a central defender for Barcelona but certainly a position that is within the player's skill set. (Márquez played a similar position for Mexico in the recent World Cup.)
The process that sent Márquez to New York was a long one. "Almost a year ago I had contact with the people from Red Bull where they asked me about coming," he told me. "But it was just as I was extending my contract with Barcelona, so we decided to leave the door open for the future. Knowing that I didn't play much last year with Barcelona, we revisited the offer from Red Bull, and from there the negotiations began."
One key to the process was that Barcelona (as with Henry) let Márquez go on a free transfer, even though he still had two years left on his contract there. "The club let me go for free because there is a very good relationship between the club and us," Márquez explained.
That's good news for MLS, which hasn't paid a transfer fee for any of its major designated-player acquisitions, including Márquez, Henry or David Beckham. "There are changes going on in European soccer from a financial perspective," said MLS commissioner Don Garber. "Many teams are struggling financially, some of them deeply in debt. Barcelona a year ago had a massive profit. This year they had a massive loss. All of them are trying to manage through what their budgets are and where certain players fit and how they spend their money."
"The days of wild spending and capturing every player they can and seeing if it works are probably over in Europe. That will provide us with some benefit as many players like Márquez and Henry are looking to the United States."
Márquez is fully aware of the sad-sack, trophyless history of MLS's New York franchise -- "It's an important challenge to be able to win the first title for this team, whether it's this year or next" -- and that players from Mexico's national team have made little impact in MLS over the years. Cuauhtémoc Blanco remains the only one to have been voted to the MLS Best XI, and not one member of El Tri has ever won an MLS Cup trophy.
But Márquez should have plenty of motivation. One more reason: He told me he definitely wants to keep playing for the Mexican national team, perhaps even through World Cup 2014. Márquez has scored in two World Cups ('06 and '10) and been a fixture for El Tri in three. But he's also the source of a paradox for U.S. fans: How could a player who has been so classy over the years for Barcelona turn into a cheap-shot artist on two occasions against the U.S., earning red cards for dirty plays against Cobi Jones in World Cup '02 and Tim Howard in a qualifier for World Cup '10?
I asked Márquez about it on Tuesday.
"I think that losing against your enemy always hurts," he said in Spanish. "I don't like losing, and I lose my head easily when I don't like losing an important game. But by now this is part of my experience, part of history." He added that he hopes fans of the Red Bulls who are also U.S. fans will embrace his work ethic and efforts to win a championship for New York.
In the end, that's how this new version of New York with Márquez, Henry and Ángel will be measured. But whether it's through marquee player acquisitions or the completion of the $200 million Red Bull Arena or their signings of mid-level players, the Europeans who now run the Red Bulls are going a long ways toward answering the skepticism that foreign management can't succeed in the unique world of MLS with its strange salary caps and roster limits.
"Having been able to stabilize things mostly defensively, we've produced a team that could compete with anybody," says general manager Erik Soler of his team, which currently sits in second place in the East. "But we didn't have a team that was sort of better than anyone else. That's what we're starting to look at now: A team that's actually better than the other teams. If it works out, I'm very confident we have set a new standard for this league, that this team will be better than any other team."
A successful MLS team in New York? Now that would be something new.
• Soccer, World Cup News Archive Index
2010, 2009
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