New York City FC today announced that midfielder Nicolás Acevedo has been sent back to Brazil’s Esporte Clube Bahia on loan through the end of 2024.
Acevedo initially left NYCFC in December 2022, loaned to Bahia to spend the 2023 season playing in the Brasileirão. He made 31 league appearances for Bahia in 2023, though suffered an unfortunate ACL tear in the Brazilian club’s final match of the season.
That knee injury will keep Acevedo on the sidelines for some chunk of the 2024 season, but he’ll be back in Brazil to rehab his injury and resume his career with the club that finished in 16th place and just one point clear of relegation from the Brazilian top flight.
The NYCFC announcement of Acevedo’s second loan to Bahia says this latest loan runs through December 31, 2024, that there’s a purchase option at the end of the 2024 season, and there’s also an obligation to buy if Acevedo hits certain performance-based goals.
Acevedo was an unsung hero in the NYCFC midfield during his three seasons in New York City, making 82 appearances for the club across all competitions, and playing an integral part in the 2022 team’s late-season surge to make it back to a second straight Eastern Conference Final.
Reports circulated in December linking Acevedo with a potential return to Bahia, as well as potential moves to Brazilian champions Palmeiras, or Liga MX clubs Tigres and Club América. In the end it’s Bahia, a City Football Group sibling of NYCFC (the two clubs share ownership as part of CFG’s multi-club model), that re-acquires the 24-year-old Uruguayan defensive midfielder.
Acevedo first joined NYCFC in a reported $2.5 million transfer from Liverpool FC in his native Uruguay, and the contract extension he signed with NYCFC after winning MLS Cup 2021 would keep him on the team’s books until December 31, 2025.
NYCFC made it clear that Acevedo was destined for another transfer when the club announced its 2024 preseason roster and said explicitly that it was working on outgoing transfers for Cody Mizell (who is now the DC United goalkeepers coach), forward Thiago Andrade, and Acevedo. We now wait to see when NYCFC announces its plans for Thiago Andrade, who also is certain to depart.
