New York Red Bulls: Red Bulls’ biggest storylines to follow in 2019

No third DP is a non-story

With all the drama that has been happening with the LA Galaxy and the fact they at one point had four designated players when an MLS Club is only allowed three, I feel a need to address this dilemma as a story to watch for the Red Bulls.

There are no ways around each club needing at least one Designate player to stay afloat in the MLS. Each team needs one star to even stand a chance. But, what has put the Red Bulls ahead is that they don’t. BWP and Kaku are designated players, and the Kaku stuff I mentioned earlier might equate to BWP being the only one in a few months.

The Red Bulls don’t have their Zlatan or their Wayne Rooney. They don’t have their Josef Martinez. They never got David Villa.

Right now, they have a DP slot rotting away, there are no real benefits to that except for the fact they have it banked and ready, I suppose.

Here is thing, why fill that third slot when no one knows if it will even work? The whole issue around the Red Bulls is that no body even knows what will work. The system now isn’t broken, but it is also not the best.

The Red Bulls are in a purgatory right now. They are in the playoffs every year, never need to rebuild despite constantly losing coaches and young player, yet they don’t have a trophy to show for it.

The Red Bulls do a lot of things very well and operate very well, but those little things are offset by the one thing they do not have. There is a risk to filling the third DP slot and losing other core players.

It is not exactly quantity over quality when the many players they keep are of high quality, but maybe that is better. The Red might not need a fancy new toy to get over hump.

It is wise to leave that slot empty because if all else fails season, perhaps that is why. Then maybe really spending money and really getting a megastar player will work. We just do not know.

Not filling every DP slot is emerging as a huge story for the Red Bulls, its been covered (subscription required) by people close to the team, however, I don’t think it should be a story. Let things be the way they are, but here we are.

Speaking of not being able to get over the hump in the playoffs…….