New York City FC approaches the opening of the summer MLS transfer window in a relatively good place in the table, in less dire need of reinforcements via the transfer market than at this same point last season.
As you may remember, the 2023 summer window—the MLS Secondary Transfer Window, if we're being precise—was the busiest in the team's history. It brought with it the signings of Birk Risa, Mounsef Bakrar, Julián Fernández, and Alonso Martinez, plus the initial short-term loan of Andrés Perea — and the return of Maxi Moralez.
That type of wave of new talent isn't on the horizon for New York City when the Secondary Transfer Window opens on July 18. Sporting Director David Lee recently said his roster lacks the space or flexibility to add players this summer. That's due to the busy other recent transfer windows, and also due to the good returns on investments the club has gotten from a handful of new or new-ish players who have been key to their 2024 turnaround.
But the cold realities of MLS roster rules and regulations – and the logic of standing pat with a recently-remade roster that's holding its own and comfortably in position to make the MLS Cup Playoffs a little over halfway through its season – won't stop us from doing some armchair Sporting Director-ing.
Below is a list of needs that NYCFC could or should look to address via player recruitment during this summer transfer window, if and when it becomes possible to fit a new signing or two onto the MLS roster.
Note that this is not a scouting report on specific players NYCFC should or could sign, but is instead a rundown of the areas of the current roster that make the most sense to address if NYCFC does dip a toe into the transfer waters.
1. Versatile fullback
New York City has four players already seeing minutes as part of the First Team's fullback group, but one—Christian McFarlane, the Homegrown left-back who just made his first MLS start at age 17—is already reportedly heading overseas when he turns 18 in January. One of the co-starters at right-back, Mitja Ilenič, was rumored to be a target of Hellas Verona in Italy's Serie A during the annual January transfer frenzy in Europe. Another Homegrown fullback, 21-year-old Tayvon Gray, has been listed by MLS transfer specialist Tom Bogert as the most valuable right-back in MLS, though that's just one list, and is no guarantee a team will make an offer to entice New York City to sell him anytime soon.
Those three, though, are all young and early in their careers, prospects in the sense that they could easily move clubs to challenge themselves in other non-MLS leagues. A player who could provide cover at either left- or right-back in case one departs this summer, or who could slide into a spot vacated by a move already in the works like McFarlane's.
Andrew Leigh
4. Talles Magno replacement
The intrigue and speculation over Talles Magno's future continue to drag on, but he still seems closer to a departure than to an about-face of a return to the NYCFC lineup. So a replacement will likely be needed. Specifically, a replacement for what Talles Magno was supposed to be for New York City: A player with flair effective at making something out of nothing with the ball at his feet, but one who can ply this trade successfully when deployed either as a winger or a striker.
