New York Red Bulls Face Questions After Thierry Henry Departure, Playoff Exit

It came as no surprise when it was announced that Thierry Henry would not return to the New York Red Bulls on Monday. The Frenchman will leave as a club legend, even after the team failed to lift the MLS Cup for the 19th consecutive year.

With Henry's inevitable parting with the club now official, the questions that New York faces this offseason have become clearer. The answers to those questions, on the other hand, remain as unclear as ever.

With New York City FC joining Major League Soccer next season, there is significant pressure on the Red Bulls to remain relevant.

The answers to these five questions will shape the future of the Red Bulls and determine how the quest for continued relevance fares.

Who will the Red Bulls protect in the expansion draft?

On December 10, NYCFC and Orlando City SC will take part in a 10-round expansion draft to help fill out the rosters of the newly minted MLS clubs. In short, the Red Bulls can protect 11 players from being taken by either expansion club, with Connor Lade, Matt Miazga, and Santiago Castano automatically protected due to their homegrown status.

Surely, six of the 11 spots will be taken by Luis Robles, Dax McCarty, Lloyd Sam, Jamison Olave, Eric Alexander and Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips.

That leaves five spots for Tim Cahill, Peguy Luyindula, Chris Duvall, Ambroise Oyongo, Richard Eckersley, Roy Miller, Ruben Bover and Ibrahim Sekagya. 

Which of those five will New York secure? Cahill has undeniable talent but would likely prefer to play striker, which poses obvious problems (more on this later). Luyindula was spectacular during the playoffs but turns 36 in May.

Duvall and Oyongo both have great potential but struggled defensively late in the season. Eckersley got off to a putrid start to the season but redeemed himself with an impressive final two months of the season.

Miller and Sekagya have both spent the last two seasons alternating between being unequivocal first-team players and unreliable accidents waiting to happen. Bover has yet to find regular first-team minutes but has undeniable talent and is only 22 years old.

Of course, the Red Bulls will not lose every player they do not protect. Seventeen other clubs will be putting players up for grabs too, so any club losing more than two or three players would be a surprise.

After finally finding a group with obvious chemistry, though, losing just one wrong player could be costly.

Where will the club find a new playmaker(s)? 

Thierry Henry is irreplaceable. There is no doubt about that.

His 51 regular-season goals are second only to Juan Pablo Angel's 68 in Red Bulls/Metrostars history. His 42 assists are a club record.

Henry is gone now, though, and New York will have to find a way to move forward.

This is not to say Henry is the club's only playmaker, nor that he single-handedly carried the team this year. Luyindula's late-season form was promising. Oyongo showed promise as a left-winger. Wright-Phillips tied the league's single-season scoring record. Sam's lightning pace created chances down the right wing.

That being said, Henry tied the club's single-season assists record with 14 this year. The club will need a new player, or players, to help make up for some of that lost production next season. 

Could that come in the form of a high-priced and high-profile Designated Player? Fans will hope so, but the club's uncertain ownership status (more on this below) may put the Red Bulls in a position where such a signing isn't feasible.

What should New York do about Tim Cahill?

The Australian proved his worth as a striker in the second leg against New England with a goal and a steady work rate, just as he has for the Australian national team for years.

The problem, of course, is that he probably is not the best striker at his own club at this point. Bradley Wright-Phillips obviously is New York's first-choice forward after a historic season. So where does that leave Cahill?

He could play in a No. 10 role just behind the striker, as he did against Sporting Kansas City on the last day of the regular season with decent success. 

There are two issues with this though. First, it would mean removing Luyindula from the starting XI. With Henry gone, Luyindula appears to be the best passing playmaker in the squad. He cannot lose his spot.

That aside, though Cahill played behind the striker many times for Everton, he plays the role in an entirely different way from Luyindula. Cahill is not a great passer of the ball but makes good late runs, draws defenders to him and wins tons of balls in the air.

But with Henry gone, the Red Bulls will need a pure playmaker playing behind the striker. Cahill does not fit that bill.

Manager Mike Petke has tried inserting Cahill in a deeper role in the midfield, but it just is not a smart move for player or club. The soon-to-be 36-year-old Australian is nowhere near his best at that position (see the 4-0 loss at LA Galaxy for proof), and the midfield pairing of Alexander and McCarty has clearly proved to be the best option in the midfield.

Could Cahill be destined for a continued role on the bench? That seems unlikely as well.

Cahill clearly still has a role to play for the Australian national team, and playing 20 minutes a match in the United States will not help him stay sharp for international competition.

It would not make much sense for the Red Bulls to keep him there, either. Cahill made $3.5 million last season, according to the MLS Player's Union, and will be the team's highest-paid player with Henry gone. 

Leaving Cahill unprotected in the expansion draft and seeking a transfer for the experienced Australian could also be possibilities.

How much of the current team will be kept intact?

Perhaps one of the most frustrating things about the Red Bulls has been the club's penchant for ridding itself of half its players from season to season.

New York finally kept together the core of its team for a season after last year's Supporters Shield victory, which ultimately led the team to its first trip to the MLS Conference Finals since 2009. 

But with sporting director Andy Roxburgh reportedly leaving the club, as reported by Franco Panizo at SBISoccer.com, how management handles roster decisions this offseason is somewhat up in the air.

How will the ownership situation affect the club?

This is the elephant in the room.

Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated reported in October that Red Bull (the company, that is), "has dramatically reduced its investment in New York as Red Bull’s global profits have declined, and its soccer interest has shifted toward its teams in Europe." Wahl continued:

While Marc de Grandpre, the club’s head of commercial operations, says the team is not for sale, one source says that if a buyer approached Red Bull and offered $300 million for the Red Bulls and their stadium, the deal would get done within 48 hours.

Long story short: Don't look for Red Bull to be involved in MLS in the long-term future.

Wahl's report suggested that reduced investment from ownership was a contributing factor to Henry's departure as well.

What does all of this mean for the club going forward? Let us speculate. 

First and foremost, it may mean that supporters should not hold their breaths for a Designated Player signing to replace Henry. If Red Bull was not willing to pay Henry, chances are the same will go for other big-name players.

Second, it raises questions about the departure of Roxburgh. Was he fired, or did he choose to leave the club? One could speculate, given that the news of his departure came in October, when the Red Bulls were playing some of their best regular-season soccer, that it would not make sense to fire him. 

Why would he want to leave the club? It is hard to say.

Third, with NYCFC entering MLS next season, now more than ever the Red Bulls need a cohesive plan to stay competitive both on and off the pitch. If Red Bull really has lost interest in the club, there is a real possibility that NYCFC will blow the Red Bulls out of the water in terms of interest in the New York/New Jersey area.

Of course, this is all speculation. 

Additionally, MLS commissioner Don Garber refuted Wahl's assertions, as reported by Stefan Bondy at the New York Daily News: "Both the owner and management team in Austria and New York are as committed as ever to Major League Soccer, the club and their fans."

Ownership issues aside, the Red Bulls are still left with questions to answer following an exciting but fruitless playoff run and the departure of an absolute legend. 

The club has had a tremendous amount of success over the last two years but is at a crossroads entering this offseason. Can the Red Bulls build on this success, or will decisions made this offseason crush the blossoming hope the club has found?