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New York City FC — Transfer News + Rumors

NYCFC selects Max Murray in MLS SuperDraft

New York City FC traded up from 24th to 17th to pick the 6-foot-5 defender from the University of Vermont who just helped lead his team to a national championship.

,   and  Hudson River Blue Staff
5 min read
Photo: Spenser Powell/UVMAthletics website.

New York City FC struck a trade to move up to the 17th pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft in order to select Max Murray from the University of Vermont.

NYCFC was set to make the 24th selection in the SuperDraft's First Round, but instead sent expansion side San Diego FC $75,000 in general allocation money (GAM) and swapped First Round picks to bring Murray into the fold at Pick 17.

New York City FC also held the 54th, 78th, 84th, and 88th overall selections in this year's SuperDraft, and used those to select Collin McCamy, AJ Smith, Arnau Farnos, and Nicholas Cavallo.

In selecting Murray in the First Round, New York City appears to have picked up a well-regarded prospect by leveraging its GAM reserve. We just learned this week, when MLS, for the first time ever, published the GAM amounts currently available to each club that NYCFC has $3,285,135 in allocation dollars to play with.

Some of that is now spent to secure Murray, an extremely tall 6' 5" center-back who is 22 and originally from Kennebunkport, Maine. Murray famously just led the University of Vermont to a historic first men's soccer national championship. Vermont won that national championship by defeating Marshall 2-1 in the College Cup on a Golden Goal in overtime.

Murray played a part in the build-up to the equalizing goal Vermont scored in that national championship game, intercepting a pass and setting in motion the team move that ended with a nice finish by teammate Marcell Papp.

Murray came up huge elsewhere in that College Cup run, scoring the decisive goal in a penalty shootout to send his Vermont team to the national championship game.

New York City just parted ways with a center-back, declining the 2025 contract option of Rio Hope-Gund as part of their end-of-season roster decisions. They could now replace him with Murray, a player analyst Matt Doyle of the MLS website rates particularly highly.

Murray ends up as one of five total players drafted by New York City FC in this latest SuperDraft. Read on for more on each of the other four players picked by NYCFC.

Second Round, 54th Overall: Collin McCamy, MF, Northwestern

New York City FC used its next pick – the 54th overall – on central midfielder Collin McCamy out of Northwestern University. McCamy was one of 44 college players invited to the recent MLS College Showcase, held December 11-14 in San Diego, Calif.

His performance at the collegiate showcase plus during his playing career at Northwestern, which saw him named to the 2023 All Big Ten First Team, has now earned him selection by NYCFC.

Third Round, 78th Overall: AJ Smith, FW, University of Virginia

AJ Smith, a 6'4" forward and wearer of the No 9 jersey for the University of Virginia, was NYCFC's choice at Pick 78, their first of three selections made in the Super Draft's Third Round.

Smith is a player with only limited high-level college soccer experience, having made just eight appearances and three starts for Virginia in his 2024 sophomore season. All those appearances came from late September through to the season's end on November 30 during the College Cup Championship tournament, when Virginia fell to the University of Massachusetts in the Round of 16.

Smith scored two goals and picked up one assist in those limited 2024 minutes, scoring the decisive goal in Virginia's win in the First Round of the College Cup Championship against in-state rivals West Virginia. His goal comes at the 1:46 mark of the compilation of highlights from that match available here.

He transferred to Virginia after a big season playing for Tyler Junior College in 2023, where he scored 18 goals and had six assists in 22 appearances. He's a Denmark native and if he signs a contract, he might become a center-forward prospect to monitor.

Third Round, 84th Overall: Arnau Farnos, FW, Oregon State University

A 21-year-old attacker from Spain who spent time in the youth setups of Spanish clubs FC Barcelona, Celta Vigo, and City Football Group relative Girona FC, Arnau Farnos gets drafted at 84th by NYCFC after three seasons playing at Oregon State University.

Farnos made 43 appearances for the OSU Beavers with his most prolific season being his most recent in 2024, when he made 18 starts, scored nine goals, and tallied three assists. He was ultimately named the WCC's Midfielder of the Year. In 2023 he was an Honorable Mention for the All-Pac-12 team while scoring four goals and picking up five assists in 20 matches.

Third Round, 88th Overall: Nicholas Cavallo, DF, UCLA

Defender Nico Cavallo, who played collegiately at both Davidson and UCLA, is NYCFC's fifth and final selection in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft, the 88th overall selection.

Cavallo earned a place on the All-Big Ten Second Team for his play for UCLA during the 2024 season, a year in which he started all 19 of UCLA’s games and scored one goal to go along with two assists.

The fullback also spent time playing with Asheville City SC in USL League 2, around when he spent three seasons playing for Davidson in North Carolina. He completed his collegiate playing career on the West Coast with UCLA as a graduate student and now gets drafted by NYCFC as part of its biggest-ever SuperDraft class.

Why the MLS SuperDraft is worth it
As New York City FC prepare to make a first-round selection in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft we look at the club’s past picks — and at which players from across the league emerged from the draft in recent years.
Hudson River BlueOliver Strand

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