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David Villa signs as New York City FC's first player, Frank Lampard likely to follow

Dirty Tackle
(NYCFC)

As expected, New York City FC haven't just signed any old schlub to be the first player in the club's history — they've only gone and signed 32-year-old World Cup winner David Villa fresh off his Champions League final start for Atletico Madrid and just before he heads to Brazil as a member of Spain's national team. Villa signs a three-season deal with NYCFC, who begin play in MLS in the 2015 season, after just one year with Atletico in which he scored 15 goals across all competitions for the Spanish champions. Prior to that, the Spanish national team's all-time leading scorer spent three years with Barcelona, winning La Liga twice and the Champions League once.

In his first interview about his move to a new continent, Villa spoke of his excitement to be the "figurehead" for the club owned by Manchester City and the New York Yankees. The affable striker will surely win a new legion of fans for NYCFC as they start out playing in Yankee Stadium next year, which Villa points out he has previously played with the Spanish national team.

So with Villa signed up, NYCFC are one third of the way to filling their three designated player slots and they are reportedly chasing Chelsea's out of contract legend Frank Lampard to fill a second. With those two the club would have a good, but old, goal scoring (and shirt selling) foundation. If it weren't for MLS's salary cap, Sheikh Mansour might be able to turn NYCFC into the greatest over-30 team of all time.

Lampard announced he would be leaving Chelsea after 13 years with the club, in which he became their all-time leading scorer with 211 goals. Along with Wayne Rooney, he is also one of two players to score 10 or more goals in 10 consecutive Premier League seasons. Not bad for a midfielder.

At 35 years old, Lampard wouldn't be a long-term mainstay for NYCFC but he certainly still has the ability to pump in more than a few goals from distance in the States. And like Villa, he's the type of person any club would love to have as an ambassador.

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Brooks Peck is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter!