2025 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread

[mgarbowski]

To be fair, we did sign a new DP who appears to be pretty impactful. We're not a win-now team (though we're getting there) so I wouldn't expect us to be as aggressive as Cincy.

First, I do appreciate the Fernandez-2 signing and he does seem good but letting 70% of a season go without replacing your #2 G+A creator off a year when you tied for 13th in goals scored hardly screams urgency.

Second, I do think you have a point and was just thinking about this while out exercising. I think you're right that we might make bigger moves if management believed we have a shot.* But it does not account for LAFC sitting in 5th place in the West and fewer points than us going for Son. I think some teams have an "any tool at hand" approach, while others, including us, have a commitment to stick to a plan and specific strategy even when it's not bearing fruit.

* I'm also not sure how this fits with team behavior in 2019-21 when we were close and even made it but there were no splashy signings or windows that made you think, "wow, they're really going for it now." We just got really good in 2017-18 and then locked in that roster as much as possible for a 3-5 year run.

In the end, I think we're not just behind all the top teams in MLS. I think we're behind our history. If 2023 was akin to 2015, then this year should be compared to 2017. This team is not nearly as good as 2017. It is worse on every metric per game: 2025 has lower PPG, lower xPPG, lower GD, lower xGD, fewer shots taken, and more shots allowed. In 2017 NYC finished second in the combined Shield table. In 2025 NYC sits in 11th.

 

[KevinJRogers]

It’s demoralizing because we always have to be talking about ifs, buts and maybes. Keaton isn’t healthy, the club has enough salary budget space to replace him. Why not replace him? Why not actually use all of the roster building tools allocated to the team. We should be maxing out roster spaces and pushing roster rules like Miami and Cincinnati, not always talking about what if. That’s the demoralizing part.

It's hard to argue with this. The organization is asking a lot of this fanbase in terms of patience. And I do mean a lot.

 

[gbservis]

First, I do appreciate the Fernandez-2 signing and he does seem good but letting 70% of a season go without replacing your #2 G+A creator off a year when you tied for 13th in goals scored hardly screams urgency.

Second, I do think you have a point and was just thinking about this while out exercising. I think you're right that we might make bigger moves if management believed we have a shot.* But it does not account for LAFC sitting in 5th place in the West and fewer points than us going for Son. I think some teams have an "any tool at hand" approach, while others, including us, have a commitment to stick to a plan and specific strategy even when it's not bearing fruit.

* I'm also not sure how this fits with team behavior in 2019-21 when we were close and even made it but there were no splashy signings or windows that made you think, "wow, they're really going for now time." We just got really good in 2017-18 and then locked in that roster as much as possible for a 3-5 year run.

In the end, I think we're not just behind all the top teams in MLS. I think we're behind our history. If 2023 was akin to 2015, then this year should be compared to 2017. This team is not nearly as good as 2017. It is worse on every metric per game: 2025 has lower PPG, lower xPPG, lower GD, lower xGD, fewer shots taken, and more shots allowed. In 2017 NYC finished second in the combined Shield table. In 2025 NYC sits in 11th.

What gets lost in the debate about signings is the sheer instability of the past few years under Lee, a complete reversal from the 2019–2021 stretch when a stable core was allowed to grow together. That stability was the difference-maker. Since 2022, it’s been the opposite: an endless revolving door of players who didn’t pan out, Thiago Andrade, Cufré, Bakrar, Jovan, Risa, Segal, Pellegrini, and Ledezma. Add that to natural departures like Chanot and the club’s eagerness to cash in on guys like Santi and Pereira, and the result is unsustainable turnover. To make matters worse, replacements always arrive at a crawl, leaving the squad perpetually a piece or two short. Lee can’t keep whiffing on half his signings, dragging his feet in the market, going cheap on DPs, and trying to run a development project all at once and still expect fans to believe this club is serious about winning trophies.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Surprised to see Maxi so high for this being done in June

Maybe, but who goes above him? Martins was just coming out of a bad stretch of costly blunders. Wolf was barely starting his streak of good form. This was early June, and I think most people voted before his brace against Atlanta.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Maybe, but who goes above him? Martins was just coming out of a bad stretch of costly blunders. Wolf was barely starting his streak of good form. This was early June, and I think most people voted before his brace against Atlanta.

Martins had those blunders against Atlanta, but he was still rock solid. I'd probably have Martins, Wolf, and Haak all above him. Possibly Tayvon as well.

I don't like saying it, but Maxi was dreadful to start the year. He's been playing much better now with Nico on the field, but the first several months he was very not good.

ASA has him as second to last on the team for goals added from the start of the season through 6/30.

 

[gbservis]

Martins had those blunders against Atlanta, but he was still rock solid. I'd probably have Martins, Wolf, and Haak all above him. Possibly Tayvon as well.

I don't like saying it, but Maxi was dreadful to start the year. He's been playing much better now with Nico on the field, but the first several months he was very not good.

ASA has him as second to last on the team for goals added from the start of the season through 6/30.

Maxi as primarily a set up guy is always going to be limited by the quality of the players around him. Put a high caliber professional like Nico next to Maxi his numbers go up. Put a guy with the movement of a headless chicken that didn't look like he belonged on the field against a bottom table USL side next to him his numbers go down.