NYCFC

What should New York City FC do with Mix Diskerud? He hints at rumored buyout

Published Feb. 27, 2017 2:50 p.m. ET

Caitlin Murray

After months of riding the bench in New York City, it looks like Mix Diskerud may finally be on the way out.

The former U.S. national team regular shared a cryptic poem on Instagram hinting that he is not in New York City FC's plans and they would be looking to offload him.

https://twitter.com/NYCFCNation/status/836026395692261378

The poem is indeed difficult to make sense of, but given that Diskerud's overpriced salary of around $750,000 has until now prevented other teams from acquiring him, it appears NYCFC may just buy out his contract. Diskerud was left out of NYCFC's preseason training camp, so there's little chance he stays at NYCFC and actually plays.

It's no secret that NYCFC has been eager to offload the Norwegian-born player from their roster and payroll. Coach Patrick Vieira admitted in December the club was trying to part ways with him. But his salary, which is much too high for a player NYCFC doesn't think is good enough to even make the bench for matches, has made it difficult to move him.

What is clear is that Diskerud is languishing in New York and his prospects won't improve unless he starts playing somewhere. He hasn't played for the U.S. national team in nearly a year, and his chances of breaking back in look slim at this point without any club action. He did reportedly train with some clubs in Norway in this MLS offseason, but nothing has come from those visits.

"If he doesn’t find a team, he’s still under contract with us and that means he will have to come back," Vieira told reporters earlier this month. "We gave him a few days to challenge himself and try to find a way to find a team where he will be able to play a little bit more often."

But now that a roster compliance deadline is looming Tuesday, NYCFC may look to buy his contract out so they can remove him from their books. Per MLS roster rules, each club can buy out one player's contract in the offseason to free up budget cap space, so such a move would give NYCFC a lot of extra cap room. And, if they are willing to eat the cost of his exorbitant salary, there's a much better chance another team, including in MLS, would try to sign him.

Either way, Diskerud's future remains very much a question mark, whatever NYCFC decides to do.

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