{"id":566365,"date":"2026-04-05T17:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T17:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/566365\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T17:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T17:23:13","slug":"nicolas-fernandez-mercau-garnering-interest-from-european-clubs-while-on-big-time-scoring-pace-for-nycfc-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/566365\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau garnering interest from European clubs while on big-time scoring pace for NYCFC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New<\/p>\n

Nicolas Fernandez #7 of New York City FC celebrates after scoring the team’s first goal during the MLS match between New York City FC and Inter Miami CF at Yankee Stadium on March 22, 2026 in New York, New York.<\/p>\n

It may be too early to dub Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau the King of Queens \u2014 New York City FC\u2019s permanent home borough beginning next season<\/a> \u2014 but the 26-year-old Argentine has shown why the club\u2019s faith in him was warranted when it signed him as a designated player last summer.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, when one of the world\u2019s greatest soccer players made an appearance in the Big Apple,\u00a0it was Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau who\u00a0nearly stole the show with his play. And his five goals through the first five games of the season, which included a brace against Colorado, have made him the first player in club history to achieve the feat.<\/p>\n

Entering Saturday\u2019s 1-1 draw against St. Louis City SC at Citi Field,\u00a0Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau was tied for third in the MLS Golden Boot race.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s made the start to the season all the more impressive has been the fact that he\u2019s\u00a0done so playing a position he doesn\u2019t traditionally play. Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau has served as NYCFC\u2019s striker \u2014 or as head coach Pascal\u00a0Jansen\u00a0jokingly calls it, the \u201c9 \u00bd\u201d \u2014 while Alonso Mart\u00ednez has been sidelined, even though the Argentine is traditionally a midfielder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a new position that I\u2019m playing, but I feel really comfortable in it,\u201d\u00a0Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau told The Post through a translator. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing that I\u2019m doing\u00a0different.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0still putting in the same hard work that I\u2019ve always done, but I guess feeling comfortable has definitely\u00a0helped out.\u00a0But it\u2019s nothing [different in training].\u201d<\/p>\n

New York City FC knew they were getting an impact player when Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau became the club\u2019s splashy signing<\/a> during the summer transfer window in 2025. His creativity allowed NYCFC\u2019s offense to generate\u00a0chances,\u00a0score timely goals during the 2025 playoff run, and his two-way\u00a0ability, making tackles and blocking shots,\u00a0only added to his value.<\/p>\n

\"Nicolas<\/p>\n

Nicolas Fernandez #7 of New York City FC celebrates after scoring the team\u2019s first goal during the MLS match between New York City FC and Inter Miami CF at Yankee Stadium on March 22, 2026 in New York, New York. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Since the start of this season, he\u2019s only given NYCFC more confidence in their decision to bring him over from La Liga side Elche CF.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see him find his place in everything we\u2019re trying to achieve here is something that we could only dream of,\u201d Jansen said. \u201cThis is something I sensed once I had the first conversation with him back in [2025]\u00a0and he\u00a0was still in Argentina, enjoying his break after a very intense season at Elche.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New York City FC midfielder Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez (7) dribbles the ball against Inter Miami FC during the first half of an MLS soccer game at Yankee Stadium. Sunday, March 22, 2026 in New York. Noah K. Murray-NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, he hasn\u2019t disappointed anybody here at the club. Once he joined this project, this is what we expected and we\u2019re hoping for more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau\u2019s quick success in MLS has also meant the potential for interest from other clubs outside the league. During the international break, a rumor circulated that Portuguese clubs Sporting CP and SL Benfica were interested in Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau for a potential summer transfer window move.<\/p>\n

Jansen said that he was \u201cnot aware if there\u2019s any interest\u201d in Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau,\u00a0though Jansen\u00a0didn\u2019t sound surprised that there would be, considering Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau\u2019s hot start.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New York City FC midfielder Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez (7) celebrates his goal during the first half against the Inter Miami at Yankee Stadium. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you play well, you do well, that\u2019s part of our world in football. You will always get interest from anywhere in the world,\u201d Jansen said. \u201cWhen there\u2019s interest, there\u2019s interest. And once people report at the door, then we\u2019ll deal with it once it\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau told Spanish-language radio broadcaster Roberto Abramowitz that his focus was on the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s soccer and there\u2019s always a bunch of rumors. I need to focus on what I need to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old told The Post that he\u2019s enjoyed his time in New York City since joining NYCFC last summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody spoke highly of the city and being able to experience it myself, I feel the\u00a0same, \u201c\u00a0he said. \u201cBeen really happy, getting to know the city, being part of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving in New York\u00a0and that\u2019s kind of helped me be comfortable, and [contributed] to the start of the season as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nicolas Fernandez #7 of New York City FC celebrates after scoring the team’s first goal during the MLS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[76599,250336,6866,2005,30052,250335,403,99,30070,37565],"class_list":{"0":"post-566365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-elche","9":"tag-fernandez-mercau","10":"tag-inter-miami-cf","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city-fc","13":"tag-nicolas-fernandez-mercau","14":"tag-soccer","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-st-louis-city-sc","17":"tag-yankee-stadium"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}