It's a shame we essentially crushed Magno's value with poor roster building and forcing him to striker. To go from being discussed as one of the better players in the league at the end of 22' to what we saw in 2023 is a shame. If a young guy is flourishing at LW why force him to striker and then give yourself no backup striker on the roster that can work if the move doesn't pan out?
Talles Magno [Forward] [On Loan - Out]
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
It's a shame we essentially crushed Magno's value with poor roster building and forcing him to striker. To go from being discussed as one of the better players in the league at the end of 22' to what we saw in 2023 is a shame. If a young guy is flourishing at LW why force him to striker and then give yourself no backup striker on the roster that can work if the move doesn't pan out?
i get it, but im in the minority that even in LW he was not dominant. like sure he played better than a ST role. but still there were many times it was frustrating him taking too long to decide to pass or to take on the defender or trying these skills moves that dont lead to anything. he definitely can't do it alone.
i would cut him slack because of his age, but man there was no progress and he can't be the guy like nycfc was expecting him to be for some reason.
Last edited:
With the way he plays, I don't think he can ever be the the guy in an offense the way NYCFC tried to use him last year at ST. Magno thrives either in space or linking up with other teammates making clever runs in the box. If we do move on from him and he lands in a higher-tier league in Europe I wouldn't be surprised to see him make a leap by being surrounded with higher quality players.
Then again as you point out his decision-making can be slow at times and he's not exactly fast in the pace department either so those things could hold him back.
His progress from 2021 to 2022 was outstanding. If he had been kept on the same track there is no reason to believe he wouldn't have continued to progress. Maybe that means faster decision making, maybe improved shot selection, maybe increased aggressiveness. But he was taken off his track. I think saying no progress is highly unfair.
thing is i feel now he is very dependent on the players around him. he had maxi taty around him in those years. he cant do it alone and take initiative as many wanted him to. he has to have players around him making runs off the ball or supplying him passes. if there are strikers/ a "10" to work around him then he can probably do good things.
To be fair, one factor in quick decisionmaking is having options to decide on. Easy to make a decision when you have motion from a Taty and an active Maxi presenting themselves. While I wish he would be more decisive in general, if you don't see anything better and you have his talent, the best option can look like holding onto the ball and waiting for a good option (that may never come).
I'm not so fast to give up on him. h'es still pretty young and definitely looked better when nick put him back on the wing. If Bakrar had finished of a couple of chances he created, it might have changed the narrative for both players.
i've said it before and I'll say it again. 2023 was decided on razor-thin margins. A few more goals have us in the playoffs. Five goals could have had us comfortably placed.
At least he's still getting birthday wishes from the social team
I don't know if this has any bearing on Talles Magno moving, but Vasco da Gama may be less likely as a destination now.
www.mlssoccer.com
Inter Miami loan Emerson Rodríguez to Vasco da Gama | MLSSoccer.com
TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS: Loan Inter Miami CF have loaned winger Emerson Rodríguez to Brazilian top-flight side Vasco da Gama through June 2025 with a purchase option, the club announced Wednesday. The 23-year-old Colombian attacker has two goals in 22 MLS appearances. He initially signed with...
www.mlssoccer.com
New York City FC Loan Forward Talles Magno to S.C. Corinthians Paulista | New York City FC
Today New York City FC announced that it has loaned forward Talles Magno to Brazilian side S.C. Corinthians Paulista through June 30, 2025. Corinthians retain an option to extend the loan until December 31, 2025. Additionally, Magno has signed an extension to his MLS contract through December...
www.newyorkcityfc.com
I hate to see him go, but I'm glad he's going to get the opportunity to play. Sitting on the bench was doing no one any good.New York City FC Loan Forward Talles Magno to S.C. Corinthians Paulista | New York City FC
Today New York City FC announced that it has loaned forward Talles Magno to Brazilian side S.C. Corinthians Paulista through June 30, 2025. Corinthians retain an option to extend the loan until December 31, 2025. Additionally, Magno has signed an extension to his MLS contract through December...
Not the first guy he's done this to who has gone on to be useful elsewhere in this league. It does make one wonder.
Are we all just forgetting entirely the long amount of time Cushing had the guy up front and he wasted a million chances that looked exactly like the one in this tweet? And we were all calling for him to bench Magno?
I think we were mostly calling for Cushing to stop playing Magno in the middle and for the club to sign a real ST that can provide the movement in the middle Magno needs to thrive on the wing. Finishing issues aside Bakrar replicates the Taty-like movement conditions under which Magno thrives but Cushing barely played together. Are we all also forgetting that prior to Taty leaving Magno was performing well enough that he was being discussed as one of the top up and coming young players in the league and the team ruined it by trying to make him a ST and having no backup plan when it didn't work?
I realize i just quoted 4 consecutive posts but there is a point. It starts with 2 posts blaming Cushing, then one post saying Cushing gave him a chance, ending with a twist that seems to agree with the first 2 but subtly shifts the blame to Lee (or at least both Lee/Cushing).
My contribution:
Bakrar 2023-24: 1945 minutes 6 goals 75 shots 24 on target
Talles 2023-24: 1975 minutes 5 goals 53 Shots 29 On Target
Both very frustrating but in different ways. We started 2023 asking Talles to step up and become the guy while shifting to the middle. It was a reasonable ask and worth trying but Talles did not and maybe could not step up. Forget balls in nets, Talles barely increased his attempts. Taty shot more than 4 times per 90 while at NYCFC. When we asked Talles to fill the void, his shots went from about 2.2 to 2.4. Maybe we learned he needs to play off a striker, or maybe he's more comfortable not being the guy, or both. By the time 70% of 2023 was over and Lee finally delivered a striker Talles had lost Cushing. Now, Cushing should have tried playing him more with Bakrar anyway. But I also get it. When you go 3/4 of the season asking someone to shoot more and he doesn't you get frustrated, and when you get Bakrar who at least takes his chances (but not well, which is his path of frustration) you might think of him as the replacement not the complement.
Lee gave Cushing no options for 3/4 of a season and when options finally arrived maybe Cushing got a little petty, or had developed blinders. I don't know exactly but it starts with deciding to wait a full year to try to replace the club's best scorer.
Lee created the roster conditions that required Cushing to ask 2 big things of Talles at once: (1) change positions and (2) step up and become the guy. And that experiment with its confounding factors failed. Last year Talles rated 39th in MLS in Shots per Game for players with at least 1500 minutes. At his contract price, you need to do better. By the time the roster gave us and Talles the chance to maybe just be the guy but from his preferred position, Cushing was in "Talles out" mode.
As for 2024, the Talles story is black box to me. He got hurt early then did not play when he returned, until gets just a taste before he was loaned out. Might it have been different if he was completely uninjured for the first half of the season? I can't even guess.
I don't think Cushing handled things well. Coaches should rise above their frustrations in situations like this. But Lee set both Cushing and Talles up to fail, and both grabbed that opportunity. Focusing on Cushing while giving a pass to Lee and Talles makes no sense.
Last edited:
That Talles struggled at striker is unquestionable, but it does beg the question of why he didn't get minutes back on the wing once that became clear. He was quite effective on the wing whenever played there.
I don't know if Cushing soured on him after he failed at the 9 or if there was some additional off stage drama in which Talles put himself in the doghouse. I actually suspect there was something going on behind the scenes, and that the only reason he got playing time was to move him at a good price.
On the whole, I am very unhappy at how things played out. He was an exciting and popular player on a team that has far too little of that. I don't know why he wasn't playing, but it better have been pretty bad.
I don't know if Cushing soured on him after he failed at the 9 or if there was some additional off stage drama in which Talles put himself in the doghouse. I actually suspect there was something going on behind the scenes, and that the only reason he got playing time was to move him at a good price.
On the whole, I am very unhappy at how things played out. He was an exciting and popular player on a team that has far too little of that. I don't know why he wasn't playing, but it better have been pretty bad.
