Major League Soccer today released the Club Roster Profiles for all 30 teams, giving us a clear look at where the New York City FC roster stands in the early days of the 2025 season.
This is the second year running now in which MLS has pulled back its proverbial curtain and shared all the nitty-gritty details of each team's roster and each player's status on their team's roster. We know who occupies Designated Player slots, whose contract expires at the end of 2025, who is counting for international slots on rosters, and all sorts of other nuances that come with building a team in MLS.
There's always a lot to discuss when it comes to the NYCFC roster, especially now, as a new Head Coach is settling in with a squad that just sold off one of its two best players on the day the regular season began.
With all that said, we combed through this latest NYCFC roster profile and came away with the following five big observations about where the squad stands.
1. Open roster slots aplenty
The roster profile feels a bit light at the top, which might be unavoidable when it's released days after the sale of a Designated Player.
New York City begin the 2025 season with just 15 players on the Senior Roster, plus another 10 on the Supplemental Roster. Compare that to 2024, when the club had 20 players on the Senior Roster and six on the Supplemental Roster.
This year, they’ve again chosen the U22 Initiative roster construction model, so New York City have two unfilled U22 Initiative slots and one unfilled Designated Player slot. That's because Talles Magno and Jovan Mijatović are both out on loan, freeing up their respective DP and U22 slots.
Remember, MLS introduced the option for teams to choose between two different roster construction models in July 2024: The Designated Player model, with three Designated Player slots and three U22 Initiative slots; and the U22 model, with two DPs and a fourth U22 slot, as well as a $2 million boost in General Allocation Money.
New York City also has two unused international slots, as it appears numerous players who previously occupied international slots are no longer considered internationals. In last season's Club Roster Profiles, Mitja Ilenič, Mounsef Bakrar, Maxi Moralez, and Julián Fernández took up international slots – but none of those players are listed in 2025, meaning they likely received their green cards.
Taken all together, there’s no real roster crunch complicating any potential player additions and there are lots of different avenues available for Sporting Director David Lee to bolster the 2025 squad.
2. Designated Player flexibility
As mentioned, NYCFC again declared for the U22 Initiative roster construction model, so they currently have one definite Designated Player slot open. They could theoretically grow it to two available DP slots since MLS teams have the flexibility to switch their chosen Roster Construction Model at midseason.
As long as NYCFC remain with just two or three U22 Initiative players available on the roster, they could always decide to aim for bigger fish on the transfer market and move to add two Designated Players.
Adding a third DP will only be possible during the summer transfer window, which in MLS runs between July 24 and August 21 this season, and is also contingent on Talles Magno not ending back up on the active roster – his loan to Corinthians expires on June 30, but the Brazilian club has the option to extend the loan through December 31, according to the official NYCFC release from August announcing Talles Magno's departure.
3. Some new GAM?
Financials aren’t included on the Club Roster Profiles, but given what has changed about NYCFC’s roster since the last release of one of these profiles, we know the team has made gains in allocation money.
Major League Soccer took a major step toward roster and financial transparency in December when the league announced every team’s amount of available General Allocation Money. NYCFC had just about $3.3 million in GAM as of December 10, but that number has grown in the two months since that public disclosure. They got small $50,000 increases for having Thiago Andrade selected in the MLS Expansion Draft and for having the Discovery Rights to Austin FC midfielder Besard Sabovic.
By selecting the U22 Initiative roster construction model, NYCFC also receives an extra $2 million in GAM, with that specific $2M of GAM not eligible to be rolled over into future seasons – something teams can now do, since GAM no longer expires, per the latest batch of MLS rules changes.
Andrew Leigh
The team also permanently sold multiple players – Nicolás Acevedo, Christian McFarlane (for unknown fees received from CFG relatives), and Santi Rodríguez (for at least $15 million to Botafogo). MLS lets teams convert up to $3 million from received transfer fees into allocation money, so some GAM adds were likely from these transfer dealings.
All this means that David Lee should have plenty of extra cash and extra GAM on hand as he’s out in search of new signings.
4. Leaning on that Supplemental Roster
One portion of the NYCFC Club Roster Profile that has grown season-over-season: The Supplemental Roster, which now counts 10 players, one shy of the maximum 11 allowed by MLS rules. NYCFC had just six players on its Supplemental Roster a season ago, but that's been the one area where additions have been made.
The Supplemental Roster, according to those MLS roster rules, is meant to be comprised of Homegrown signings and players earning somewhere between the Reserve Minimum Salary ($80,622) and the Senior Minimum Salary ($104,000). This winter has seen the Supplemental Roster add Homegrown defender Prince Amponsah, MLS SuperDraft picks Max Murray and Nico Cavallo, free agent goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh, plus the promotion of tenured Homegrowns Drew Baiera, Máximo Carrizo, and Jonny Shore. While the top of the roster looks light, NYCFC has beefed up the roster's bottom.
5. Decisions loom
There will be lots of roster decisions to be made come the end of 2025. There are two players completely out of contract when the season ends, midfielders Justin Haak and Maxi Moralez. There are an additional 12 players in the final guaranteed years of their contracts but with options to extend their stays with NYCFC beyond this season.
That group includes DP defender Thiago Martins, star striker Alonso Martínez, plus the likes of Kevin O'Toole, Birk Risa, Tayvon Gray, and Andrés Perea, to not even name everyone. Yes they have contract options, so it's not a given they will all depart, but this season could prove to be one of transition knowing how many decisions will need to be made after the final match gets played.
Combine the uncertain futures of numerous players with the expectation that new signings will be made and this 2025 Club Roster Profile might change a lot when it's revisited with the release of a new one in February 2026.
