New York City FC preseason preparations are underway. Players have reported to the team's training facility and there's a flight planned to take the team out to Santa Barbara, California on Wednesday, January 15 to get warm-weather training started.
The preseason schedule includes six friendlies, all building toward the season beginning on February 22 in South Florida against Inter Miami CF. Preseason tends to eventually feel like a bit of a slog to get through to reach the "real" soccer, but the month-plus of preparation can also bring with it some intriguing storylines to follow.
Certain parts of this New York City FC squad seem more settled than others, so as the preseason prep starts to ramp up, this seemed like the moment to run through five of the biggest things to keep an eye on while NYCFC builds up to the start of its 2025 season.
1. New coach, new wrinkles
A new coach in charge means a wait to see if and how New York City FC will change. Will there be noticeable differences on display during the team's first preseason under Jansen? Hiring the former Ferencváros and AZ Alkmaar manager represents the freshest start in the NYCFC coaching ranks since 2020 when Ronny Deila took over. Who will Jansen bring in to fill out his assistant coaching ranks, and what changes will we see across the team's six preseason friendlies?
When highlighting five important things about Jansen and his coaching history in a separate article, I mentioned that Jansen has mainly preferred either a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation. Even beyond the basic question of his preferred formation with this NYCFC group, there are likely to be other things we notice about how Jansen asks his team to play. There will be changes from what the team did during its years under Nick Cushing, and the preseason may begin to reveal some of Pascal Jansen's adjustments.
Andrew Leigh
2. The center-back pairing
Will Pascal Jansen turn to the Birk Risa-Thiago Martins pairing that played the bulk of the center-back minutes for NYCFC in 2024? Risa dealt with injuries on and off last season and fell out of the lineup at the season's end, replaced successfully by Justin Haak for the entirety of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Center-back is a position with options, as beyond Thiago Martins, Risa, and Haak (who can also play as a defensive midfielder), there's still Strahinja Tanasijević, plus MLS SuperDraft First Rounder Max Murray. The newly signed Homegrown defender Prince Amponsah also can play in the central defense, so Jansen will have plenty of players to evaluate as he considers the depth chart at center-back.
The smart money, here at the dawn of preseason, would seem to be on running it back with Risa and Thiago Martins. It worked, as for a brief while, the two combined with Matt Freese in goal to help NYCFC have one of the stingier defenses in the league. Both players, though, have shown a tendency to pick up injuries, and Thiago Martins is on the verge of turning 30. Preseason thus becomes important, too, for forming defensive contingency plans and building some confidence in the team's reserve center-backs.
3. The next Homegrown breakthrough(s)
Christian McFarlane debuted in 2024 and made 13 appearances across all competitions for NYCFC – but he seems all but guaranteed to depart the team during the January window to sign with Manchester City FC.
Will one or more of the other young talents from the team's Academy follow McFarlane's lead and make the leap from MLS NEXT Pro to the First Team in 2025? It's another preseason of anticipation especially for attacking midfielder Máximo Carrizo, who is still just 16 years old but has now played 53 matches as a professional across all competitions with New York City FC II since signing his Homegrown contract in 2022 on his 14th birthday. Carrizo has logged plenty of minutes during the two most recent MLS preseasons, but might 2025 be the year where it translates to actual minutes playing for the First Team?
Beyond Carrizo, there is also central midfielder Jonathan Shore and fullback Drew Baiera, both regular starters for NYCFC II throughout the 2024 season while remaining highly regarded as under-18 prospects. Departures from the roster – like fullback McFarlane and midfielder James Sands – means there are opportunities for minutes, at least during preseason. This trio of Homegrowns seems in a position to, hypothetically, impress enough during the preseason to earn minutes in MLS in 2025, but it's a big leap, and it's unclear how aggressive the team's new coach will be in bringing along the teenager prospects.
4. What about all those SuperDraft picks?
Mentioned center-back Max Murray out of the University of Vermont above, but NYCFC also picked four others in the recent SuperDraft, the most players the team has selected in its history. We've seen glimpses of Max Murray, midfielder Colin McCamy, and defender Nico Cavallo at the team's training facility – they all would seem likely to be a part of the traveling preseason roster, but what of the other two picks, forwards AJ Smith and Arnau Farnos?
Hudson River Blue Staff
Any or all of the SuperDraftees could end up with NYCFC II in MLS NEXT Pro, but it will be very much worth watching how they get deployed across the six preseason friendlies.
Just how high is the club on Murray, who they traded up in the draft to acquire? It doesn't seem likely, but could he be with the First Team all season and play a role akin to Malachi Jones in 2024, an unexpected breakout performer from the college game? As mentioned, there are opportunities for places on the depth chart at center-back.
5. The comings and goings.
This is the great unknown that hovers over the preseason: What players will be leaving New York City, and what new players will be arriving? Transfer activity has picked up a bit two weeks into 2025: A pair of new Homegrown signings were announced, Maxi Moralez officially rejoined for a ninth MLS season, and other rumors swirl, though mainly about possible departures (Jovan Mijatović, Christian McFarlane, Matt Freese?!).
Sporting Director David Lee has not brought in any new external faces yet, but based on his history of winter signings, that tends to start happening in the second half of January and in early February. What will Lee and his new co-worker Pascal Jansen prioritize when adding to the roster? Hudson River Blue writers recently each recommended the one player they'd like to see Lee sign, but all we can do at this point is wait. While the waiting continues you can also keep up with every single NYCFC move and transfer rumor in one place, right here.
Hudson River Blue Staff
