Rafael Márquez follows Henry to the New York Red Bulls
Rafael Márquez follows Henry to the New York Red Bulls
31-year-old Mexico national team captain Rafael Márquez has joined the New York Red Bulls from FC Barcelona. The imposing centre-back has become the MLS side’s third designated player after signing onto a multi-year contract just weeks after former-Barcelona teammate Thierry Henry made the move across the pond. Although rumours surrounding a possible move to NYRB have been circulating for quite some time, the transfer seemed implausible as Barcelona were thought to value Márquez at more than €6 million. Márquez, who had two years remaining on his contract with the Catalan champions, was released by the Spanish club on July 31st, allowing him to move to the Red Bulls on a free transfer. It’s puzzling that Barcelona, a club in 442 million euros (£369.5m) of debt, would sacrifice a multi-million dollar transfer fee, to get on good terms with a budding league by practically gifting it a veteran defender. But Barcelona do have many motives for seeking such a relationship, after all they tried to establish a MLS team before succumbing to economic actuality last year.