Earlier today, New York City FC announced the club’s roster moves ahead of the 2024 season.
The club exercised the 2024 options for goalkeeper Luis Barraza, goalkeeper Matt Freese, winger Andres Jasson, wingback Kevin O’Toole, and striker Gabriel Segal.
The club also announced that they declined the options for defender Nico Benalcazar, defender Braian Cufré, striker Jonathan Jimenez, midfielder Alfredo Morales, defender Samuel “Kwaku” Owusu, winger Matías Pellegrini, and defender Stephen Turnbull.
In addition, NYCFC announced that assistant coach Kléberson will leave the club. It confirms a post that Kléberson himself made on Instagram on Saturday night.
NYCFC roster moves
It comes as no surprise that NYCFC exercised the options of Barraza, Freese, Jasson, and O’Toole.
Barraza and Freese shared duties in the goal, with Barraza starting most games during the first two-thirds of the year and Freese taking over the No 1 spot at the end of the season. Both are a good value: Barraza had a guaranteed salary of $152,688 in 2023, while Freese had a guaranteed salary of $180,000. (You will find a table with the complete payroll of NYCFC at the end of this post.)
Likewise, Jasson ($142,144) and O’Toole ($85,444) provided quality play without impacting the payroll much. Both made important starts at the end of the season, and often came off the bench throughout the season.
Retaining Segal ($67,360) is a little more of a surprise. The striker was one of just a handful of players paid made the minimum salary and made 10 appearances for their clubs, but he was loaned to Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv in September rather than spend the rest of the season in New York City.
Does this mean Segal will return to NYCFC in 2024?
MLS Players Earning the League-Minimum of $67,360
Name | Team | Pos | Mins | Starts | Apps | G | A |
Noel Buck | New England | M | 1663 | 19 | 24 | 3 | 1 |
Emeka Eneli | Real Salt Lake | M | 1228 | 12 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
Noah Allen | Inter Miami | D | 1186 | 13 | 18 | 1 | 2 |
Philip Quinton | Columbus Crew | D | 937 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 1 |
Andrew Privett | Charlotte FC | M | 953 | 10 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
Akil Watts | St. Louis City | M | 835 | 10 | 17 | 0 | 1 |
Cody Baker | Seattle Sounders | D | 682 | 8 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
Preston Judd | LA Galaxy | F | 640 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 2 |
Miguel Perez | St. Louis City | M | 607 | 7 | 15 | 1 | 0 |
Gabriel Segal | NYCFC | F | 417 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
Ajani Fortune | Atlanta United | M | 352 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 1 |
Malik Pinto | FC Cincinnati | M | 380 | 2 | 21 | 0 | 0 |
Patrick Agyemang | Charlotte FC | F | 182 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 0 |
Options declined
The decision to decline the options of Morales ($662,250) and Cufré ($757,800) are more unexpected but not entirely surprising.
Morales joined NYCFC in 2021, and was an important part of the squad that won the MLS Cup that year. But the 33-year-old spent significant parts of the 2023 season unavailable because of injuries, and didn’t have much of an impact. Cufré arrived before the start of the 2023 season, and was head coach Nick Cushing’s left-back of choice for most of the season. But he lost his starting spot to O’Toole during a recent run of games in which the team put up their best results of the year.
The least surprising departure is Pellegrini ($1,120,833). The 23-year-old was formerly a Designated Player for Inter Miami, and his 2023 salary was the fourth-highest on the team, but he failed to make a consistently positive impact in his 14 starts for the team.
Turnbull ($85,444) was signed to the First Team from NYCFC II in April in order to reinforce a defense suffering from injuries. The 25-year-old went on to make 11 appearances for the team, but he saw little playing time in the final third of the season.
Benalcazar, Jimenez, and Owusu were NYCFC II players who failed to break into the First Team.
NYCFC 2023 Player Salaries
Name | Guaranteed Salary | Starts | Apps | HRB Rating |
1. Thiago Martins | $2,112,000 | 23 | 25 | 6.1 |
2. Santiago Rodríguez | $1,331,333 | 27 | 30 | 6.2 |
3. Talles Magno | $1,198,000 | 19 | 29 | 5.2 |
4. Matías Pellegrini | $1,120,833 | 14 | 24 | 4.7 |
5. James Sands | $1,058,333 | 23 | 25 | 6.3 |
6. Brian Cufré | $757,800 | 22 | 25 | 5.9 |
7. Birk Risa * | $689,750 | 9 | 9 | 6.3 |
8. Alfredo Morales | $662,250 | 11 | 22 | 5.5 |
9. Julián Fernández * | $604,300 | 1 | 8 | 5.7 |
10. Andrés Perea * | $591,500 | 8 | 9 | 6.6 |
11. Keaton Parks | $550,000 | 29 | 31 | 6.0 |
12. Maxi Moralez * | $500,000 | 4 | 4 | 6.9 |
13. Mounsef Bakrar * | $432,720 | 9 | 9 | 5.8 |
14. Richie Ledezma | $396,000 | 14 | 23 | 5.5 |
15. Tayvon Gray | $350,000 | 23 | 27 | 5.3 |
16. Mitja Ilenič | $295,000 | 13 | 21 | 6.0 |
17. Alonso Martínez * | $278,479 | 0 | 3 | 4.4 |
18. Matt Freese | $180,000 | 9 | 9 | 7.2 |
19. Justin Haak | $165,000 | 10 | 14 | 6.0 |
20. Luis Barraza | $152,688 | 24 | 24 | 5.7 |
21. Andres Jasson | $142,144 | 9 | 20 | 5.4 |
22. Cody Mizell | $85,444 | 0 | 0 | — |
23. Kevin O'Toole | $85,444 | 11 | 20 | 5.2 |
24. Stephen Turnbull | $85,444 | 5 | 11 | 5.3 |
25. Nico Benalcázar | $68,775 | 0 | 1 | 5.7 |
26. Gabe Segal | $67,360 | 4 | 10 | 6.1 |
Is it safe to assume that the team is banking on internal development more than acquisitions for long term improvement? Considering how relatively young and inexpensive a lot of NYCFC’s players are, and the choice to bring Cushing back(an inexperienced coach), maybe we shouldn’t expect a big splashy acquisition during the offseason.
agreed. i don’t anticipate a ground breaking name-sake acquisition for a meaningful while.
That’s frustrating for the money we pay to watch them. Cushing is not a coach who gets the most out of his players. Rather I think he lost us 4-8 points with his run of tie games.