{"id":475816,"date":"2025-12-27T22:36:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T22:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475816\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T22:36:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T22:36:19","slug":"justin-haak-pens-emotional-goodbye-to-nycfc-as-hes-set-to-join-la-galaxy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475816\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Haak pens emotional goodbye to NYCFC as he&#8217;s set to join LA Galaxy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Justin Haak all but confirmed he is leaving New York City FC on Saturday, writing a lengthy goodbye post on social media following a report that he had signed a deal with the LA Galaxy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old center back\u2019s contract expired at the end of the 2025 season, and NYCFC said earlier this month that it had been in discussions with Haak about his future, though it\u2019s clear now that the talks didn\u2019t keep the homegrown talent in the Big Apple.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/breaking-la-galaxy-finalizing-deal-180600636.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">A report from The Athletic<\/a> on Christmas Eve indicated the LA Galaxy were finalizing a deal to sign Haak\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There appeared to be some hope that talks were moving in a positive direction in November, but signs started to suggest otherwise as the offseason progressed.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38034704\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2248136971.jpg\" alt=\"Justin Haak #80 of New York City controls the ball during the Conference Semifinal match between Philadelphia Union and New York City FC as part of the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs at Subaru Park on November 23, 2025 in Chester, Pennsylvania.\" class=\"wp-image-38034704\"  \/>Justin Haak of New York City controls the ball during the Conference Semifinal match between Philadelphia Union and New York City FC as part of the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs at Subaru Park on November 23, 2025 in Chester, Pennsylvania. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout this organization I wouldn\u2019t be the person I am today,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/justin.haak\/p\/DSxoAUajnw6\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Haak wrote<\/a> in his Instagram post. \u201cI have made countless relationships and memories that will last a lifetime. Even though throughout my 10 years playing for NYCFC it didn\u2019t always go the way I envisioned it I wouldn\u2019t change any of it now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a whole, I am forever grateful for the opportunities that were given to me as well as the challenges that made me stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Haak, a Brooklyn native, came up through NYCFC\u2019s academy program and signed with the first team as a Homegrown Player in January 2019.\u00a0He was a member of the team that won the MLS Cup in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s developed into a key piece for the club in recent seasons and scored its only goal in an <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/29\/sports\/nycfc-routed-by-lionel-messi-inter-miami-as-playoff-run-ends\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eastern Conference Finals loss<\/a> to Inter Miami in November.\u00a0He notched a goal and four assists during the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can leave this club and city knowing I gave it everything I had every single day,\u201d Haak\u2019s message to fans continued. \u201cI will always be supporting and rooting for my guys. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you [New York City FC] and most importantly all the fans for the support and passion throughout my time with this club.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Justin Haak all but confirmed he is leaving New York City FC on Saturday, writing a lengthy goodbye&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":475817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337,6656,29097,221,62],"class_list":{"0":"post-475816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-mls","14":"tag-new-york-city-fc","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115793926053888582","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}