New York City FC announced that fullback Kevin O’Toole signed a contract extension that will keep him with the club through the 2025 MLS season.
O’Toole’s deal also includes an option for 2026. It’s the second extension New York City has announced this offseason, with goalkeeper Matt Freese confirmed to be extending his stay with New York City back on December 14.
NYCFC exercised O’Toole’s option for the 2024 season when it announced its end-of-season roster moves, but now he has an entirely new deal. The left back out of Princeton University earned $85,444 in guaranteed compensation during the 2023 season, one of the lowest earners on New York City’s roster.
Considering O’Toole finished a second straight year playing his way into being a consistent member of Nick Cushing’s Starting XIs at the tail end of the MLS season, a raise was in order.
The left back position is somewhat unsettled for NYCFC, with Braian Cufré’s loan at an end and his buy option not exercised. Currently the depth chart features O’Toole and Christian McFarlane, the 16-year-old Homegrown player who is highly touted but is still yet to make his MLS debut.
NYCFC drafted O’Toole as a forward in the second round of the 2022 MLS SuperDraft and signed him to a first professional contract in March 2022. O’Toole becomes just the second player NYCFC has ever selected in the MLS SuperDraft to sign a contract extension with the team, following in the footsteps of goalkeeper Luis Barraza, a SuperDraft pick in 2019 who extended with NYCFC in November 2021.
O’Toole broke out as a fixture for NYCFC late in 2022, sliding in to the lineup when Cushing tweaked his formation in September. That formation change led to the 25-year-old Montclair, New Jersey native O’Toole starting on the left in New York City’s Campeones Cup triumph, and throughout the club’s run back to the Eastern Conference Final.
A similar situation played out for O’Toole in 2023, as he started all five of the final NYCFC matches of the season beginning with the team’s shock 2-0 win over Orlando City on September 20.
With the unsettled state of the left-back position heading into 2024, it’s possible the newly-extended O’Toole will end up as a regular member of the NYCFC Starting XI far earlier than September during the next MLS campaign.
