2026 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread

[mgarbowski]

The club seems content to be very good but never push for great given their willingness to just kick the can down the road to the next transfer window every season. I still stand by my position that NYCFC is essentially the Indiana Pacers of MLS. Always in the playoffs, never a true title contender, hyper focused on value while be consistently unwilling to break the bank even if that type of move would make a very good team a true title contender.

At times the way Sims talks almost obsessively about player vetting and all the conditions to sign a player I wonder if some of the clubs issues stem from being overly cautious when it comes to DPs. Sometimes you have to take a swing.

I remain partial to overconfidence chained to a budget. They did not just get lucky in 2021. I think they very much built for a championship from 2016 to 2021-22, before all this /gestures about /, began. I can think of 3 possible explanations for the change. One, it was mostly Reyna dragging the organization behind him through aura and will, and Lee was only able to keep it going so long after Claudio left. Two, having won, they lost ambition. Three, my favorite, they fell in love with the Young DP and U22 options, have never been good at it, have no plan for how to maintain or quickly turn over a roster when the goal is to sell (with problems both when they can and cannot make a profit), and yet they believe it gives them an edge despite solid contrary evidence.

 

[FootyLovin]

I'm not making excuses for the club, because we could REALLY use extra help up top, but there are only 11 matches between now and then opening of the summer transfer window. Maybe the club thought that the good start buys them some time.

I will feel much better about this if/when the club signs someone in the first week of the new window. Orlando has already announced Griezman for the summer window. Give me one of those situations for once.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I will feel much better about this if/when the club signs someone in the first week of the new window. Orlando has already announced Griezman for the summer window. Give me one of those situations for once.

We did that last year. Nico was available the first game after the summer window opened.

 

[mgarbowski]

We did that last year. Nico was available the first game after the summer window opened.

I wonder if the World Cup will make it easier or harder to make deals in that time frame. The summer window opens July 13. Our first post WC game is July 22. The WC Final is July 19, though most teams will have been eliminated earlier. I figure no player on an active WC roster is likely to be part of a deal until his country is eliminated.

 

[FootyLovin]

I wonder if the World Cup will make it easier or harder to make deals in that time frame. The summer window opens July 13. Our first post WC game is July 22. The WC Final is July 19, though most teams will have been eliminated earlier. I figure no player on an active WC roster is likely to be part of a deal until his country is eliminated.

The issue might be competition and feeding frenzy over anyone who shows well at the WC. Also, I imagine we aren't going after anyone who makes it out of the round of 32.

 

[BxLio91]

We gotta prepare ourselves for offers for Freese if he has a good WC.

 

[mgarbowski]

The issue might be competition and feeding frenzy over anyone who shows well at the WC. Also, I imagine we aren't going after anyone who makes it out of the round of 32.

Yeah, my concerns are (1) what you said, (2) no player or selling team will want to deal until they have a chance to show out, and (3) no buying team will want to move until a player is done and risk nightmare scenario where he gets injured immediately. Put 2 and 3 together and your feeding frenzy issue is maxed out.

 

[Joe_Cos]

If we sent the beam out on loan to La Liga, it would be to Valencia and thus would spend the entire loan basically unused, while we missed two windows searching for a replacement.

Steely McBeam has been loan out to the Pittsburg Riverhounds.

 

[mgarbowski]

Ranking every MLS team’s 2026 winter transfer window from worst to first after deadline day

Come yell at us in the comments. Or yell at your team's front office in the comments. Whatever works for you.

www.backheeled.com

NYCFC ranks 29, ahead of only Philadelphia. Bottom line:

"NYCFC’s window really bummed me out. I think Pascal Jansen is one of the best tacticians in MLS, and the Pigeons have looked like one of the best teams in the East through five weeks. But man, they had some clear needs in the winter and addressed basically none of them."​

 

[FootyLovin]

With Wolf's goal over the weekend, he and Ojeda both now have 2 (the coincidence number). I fully expect both to get #3 and make it a trend.

Question: Wolf or Ojeda - who scores more this year?

Assists break the tie with Ojeda currently leading with 1 assist.

 

[mgarbowski]

With Wolf's goal over the weekend, he and Ojeda both now have 2 (the coincidence number). I fully expect both to get #3 and make it a trend.

Question: Wolf or Ojeda - who scores more this year?

Assists break the tie with Ojeda currently leading with 1 assist.

I never needed any confirmation in 2026 from Wolf that he can score 8-15 goals. He's done it and as they come in bunches you shouldn't even worry if he has a drought because that's how he is.

I do still need to see more from Ojeda. Another goal in the next few games will do a lot. I'd actually feel most confident to see him consistently striking the ball hard and on goal and not right at the keeper. That has improved IMO, but I don't believe he's where he needs to be yet.
His shooting pace is way up from last year though less than 2024. The same is true for his shots on target per 90. But FotMob says that compared to positional peers, he is below average on a per 90 basis.


FYI the "?" next to rank explains that green means the player's rank is above average for his position and competition. Red means below.
So even though his xGOT rate is better than 62% of MLS, it's below average for a right winger.

But to his credit this is an impressive improvement over the 2025 numbers:

 

[mgarbowski]

The other reason I'm still dubious about Ojeda is I'm not convinced that his 2 goals are solid indicators that his shooting skills have improved.
The first was a bounce volley. Those are harder to hit on target than most shots, but paradoxically it leaves me a bit cold because I don't think hitting one of those well translates to shooting better in standard shots off a dribble or ground pass. The second goal was very prettily struck, but he was in an OGSO, running straight at goal with the closest defender a couple of steps behind. It is not news that he can do that. Massive credit to get in that position, but it doesn't raise my opinion of his shooting.

Finally, with the usual disclaimer that every player will look worse if you exclude his best play, I will note that if you take away just the bounce volley, his xGOT is lower than his xG. On the whole, he's just not shooting all that well.

The main improvement in his game is he's finally shooting almost at the pace he should be. He was absurdly trigger shy last season. Since 2023 I've been mentally and emotionally yelling at our young attackers "Shoot the freaking ball!" I'm very pleased to see him moving in that direction.