It’s hard to put your finger on Talles Magno. In terms of on-ball talent, I’m not sure if New York City FC has seen a better player. He could simply do things that the other 21 guys on the field could not. When in form, he was capable of carving open any defense in Major League Soccer with the jaw-dropping flair you’d expect from a $8 million, Jogo Bonito-soaked Brazilian winger on a Designated Player salary.
He wasn’t supposed to be with New York City in the first place. Rumored to have interest from PSG and Chelsea, the Vasco da Gama talent was also linked with a $20 million transfer to Liverpool back in 2020. Injuries, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the important role he played in his relegation-battling side kept the attacker in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro for just long enough for City Football Group to snap him up on the cheap.
Instead of blossoming into the world-class player he was presumed to become, he left NYCFC to return to his native Brazil, joining Corinthians on loan and forgoing (at least for now) the European dream for which he seemed destined upon his arrival in the Big Apple in 2021.
His departure marks the end of a tumultuous New York City career, which reached the highs of MLS Cup glory, and the lows of at times being frozen out of the squad entirely. Depending on who you ask in the NYCFC community, Talles leaves fans with opinions as varied as his performances.
Oliver Strand
Some, like myself, are quick to lean on the “eye test.” He’s the type of player that you can tell has “it” with his first touch of a ball. Talles Magno doubters may point out that whatever “it” actually is has not translated to much tangible output. Through his 101 appearances for the Pigeons, the Brazilian amassed 19 goals and 11 assists.
While 30 goal involvements in just over a century of matches isn’t horrible, it isn’t quite DP-quality either. When you’re a DP, you aren’t afforded the luxury of flying under the radar. This rings especially true if you’re a forward, where your perceived importance from the masses can often boil down to goals and assists alone. This reality proved even more stark for Talles Magno because of the circumstances he found himself in during his NYCFC tenure.
Life in New York City started out pretty well for Talles. At just 19, he gave fans some bright moments off the bench in his debut season, like his match-winner in the Eastern Conference Final against the Philadelphia Union that wrote him firmly into club lore.
TALLES MAGNO FOR THE LATE LEAD IN THE CONFERENCE FINAL! 🗽⚽️ pic.twitter.com/29xPGPwcit
— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) December 5, 2021
Then, in 2022, he emerged as a more consistent contributor, providing 11 goals and 8 assists in all competitions. His development seemed firmly on track…until everything derailed in 2023. New York City diehards need not to be reminded of the great exodus of talent between summer of 2022 and winter of 2023. Head Coach Ronny Deila departed in July 2022, then at the end of the season team leaders like Sean Johnson, Anton Tinnerholm, and Alex Callens all packed their bags for new adventures. Talles also saw his attacking cohort absolutely ravaged with the departures of Taty Castellanos, Maxi Moralez, and Héber.
In just six months, seemingly everyone the youngster leaned on in his breakout season had left, leaving Talles short on both talent to push him and leadership to guide him. Worse yet, reinforcements were not on the way from the NYCFC front office. Despite the slew of departures, the strategy to start the 2023 season appeared to be one of making do with what they had in house.
What they didn’t have, unfortunately, was a true striker. What they did have was 20-year-old Talles Magno, willing enough to be shoehorned into the No 9 position without adequate experience, and with the weight of an entire fanbase on his young shoulders. The result was a brutal 2023 season for Talles and for NYCFC as a whole. Playing as a center forward for the vast majority of his minutes, he finished the year with just 4 goals and 2 assists through 30 MLS appearances. In the end, he saw his side miss out on the MLS Cup playoffs for the first time since the inaugural 2015 season.
It wasn’t just the statistics that were lacking—it was seemingly everything. He struggled to get on the ball, and the infectious confidence that once carried him around defenders with ease looked shot. While finishing was never exactly his strong suit, he looked completely apprehensive at times in front of goal, dragging shots wide when going for placement and failing to connect when going for power.
As the highest-profile attacker in a side desperate for goals, it was only a matter of time before Talles started to feel the heat from the fans. Week in and week out, when some of those fans would make their voices heard in the Hudson River Blue player ratings, Talles would get hammered with low scores. Incredibly, his 5.3 season-long average was tied for the second-worst among all NYCFC players in 2023, finishing only above the seldom-used veteran center back Tony Alfaro.
John Baney
The emotional impact of his disappointing season was displayed most publicly in what was perhaps his brightest 2023 moment. Talles scored a beautiful header against Orlando City in late September, an insurance goal on the night but one that broke a 151 day goal drought for the young forward, who promptly burst into tears while celebrating with his teammates. It was an emotional culmination of a very difficult season for Talles Magno.
What a header from Talles Magno!
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 21, 2023
The Pigeons double their lead over Orlando. pic.twitter.com/i68fvEXXeO
Once the dust settled on that disaster of a season, there was optimism Talles could return to the impressive, up-and-coming talent we saw in 2022. Separately, there was skepticism that he’d even be sticking around. After rumors linked the player with a move to SE Palmeiras in the summer of 2023, Talles Magno was the subject of an additional transfer saga with Bologna FC in the January transfer window.
Ultimately, whether Talles wanted out or not, no deal was struck. Things hardly got any easier for him at his current home during the 2024 season. While his experiment as a No 9 was mercifully over, his competition for a spot back on the wings was suddenly much stiffer. Between the back half of 2023 and the start of 2024, NYCFC brought in four true wingers: Julián Fernández, Hannes Wolf, Agustín Ojeda, and Malachi Jones.
Between Talles and these new arrivals, there were five very talented young players competing for just two spots out wide. Yet again, fate just didn’t seem to be on Talles’s side, as he reaggravated a nagging knee injury on the opening day of the 2024 season. Instead of competing for minutes with his new teammates, he found himself watching along from the sidelines as the reinforcements bloomed into breakout stars. Wolf proved undroppable off the right flank, Jones emerged as a fan favorite off the left, and the Argentinian duo of Ojeda and Fernández popped up for really bright moments themselves. Above all, NYCFC were back to scoring goals, and back to winning ways.
By the time Talles returned to fitness May 5 vs Colorado Rapids, NYCFC was two months into the season and the squad was rolling. Even with Talles Magno’s immense talent, it was hard for Nick Cushing to justify fixing what wasn’t broken in attack. So, perhaps it didn’t come as too much of a surprise when we didn’t see Talles thrust back into a starting role.
What was surprising, however, was that he seemed to lack any role whatsoever in Cushing’s eyes. Despite being fully fit, and hearing consistent praise for his efforts in training, Magno was left out of the match day squad altogether for weeks on end. In a matter of months, the desperation in which Talles was once relied upon for output seemed to have disappeared, replaced by the arrival of fresh attacking talent.
Oliver Strand
Ultimately, this spelled the end for Talles Mango at NYCFC. In this league, you can’t justify retaining at DP that doesn’t see regular minutes, no matter how talented they may be.
I can’t help but think that things could’ve should’ve been different. He just couldn’t catch a break. From failed European transfers pre-NYCFC, to the mass departure of talent and leadership starting in 2022, to being forced into an ill-suited No 9 role, and then seeing himself replaced entirely during his return from injury, Talles has arguably faced more adversity by age 22 than many players of his caliber will see in their entire career.
Maybe that’s the silver lining in all this: Talles is still just 22 years of age. With so much of his career still ahead of him, it doesn’t feel like a matter of if he will truly break out, but when and where. So, whether he returns to NYCFC following the expiry of his loan, spends the rest of his career at Corinthians, or one day does land that big-money move to Europe, I just hope the kid can find the stability, consistency, and environment he deserves to show us the great player that he is.
Hudson River Blue Staff
