3 Dark Horses for NYCFC's Season Ahead

Intoduction:

After a convincing 6-0 aggregate thumping of Santos de Guápiles, NYCFC turn to their attention to retaining their crown of MLS Cup champions. This year, however, they will seek to get it done without the serves of key 2021 contributors James Sands and Jesus Medina. With these absences in mind, here are some players that could step up and become new assets for The Pigeons in 2022.

1) Andres Jasson, LW/RW

While he didn’t get the minutes some were expecting after a promising start last season, the pride of Greenwich Connecticut, Andres Jasson, could find himself playing a bigger role in this upcoming 2022 season. After getting a handful of starts early on last campaign, the signing of THREE young, expensive and talented South Americans in Talles Magno, Thiago Andrade, and Santi Rodriguez, quelled any significant minutes the young American might have been hoping for.

But, this year looks like it could be different for the young prospect. With Jesus Medina headed to CSKA Moscow, and with Ismael Tajouri-Shradi going to LAFC, there appears to be more opportunity for the young homegrown standout now than there was last year. Additionally, with Taty’s departure seeming somewhat imminent this summer, there has been speculation on whether or not a player like Talles Magno could slot in a the number 9 role if Heber is unable to re-discover his 2019 goalscoring form. If this were to happen, then that would really only leave Thiago and Santi in front of him on the depth chart in the winger roles.

But if he is to break out this year, it won’t just be due to the departures of others, but for his undeniable talent as well. Jasson was a part of the wildly talented NYCFC academy side that went all the way to winning a national championship, and featured the likes of Gio Reyna, James Sands, Joe Scally, and Hermann trophy winner Dante Polvara. Jasson is capable of exciting fans with his confident ball control in tight areas, his quickness, and his ability to take on defenders 1v1. Depending on how this starting XI begins to shake out early on this season, with enough minutes, I believe Andres Jasson can become a key player for this side in 2022.

2) Gideon Zalalem, CM It’s been a whirlwind of a career already for American midfielder, Gidion Zelalem. After most notably featuring with Arsenal at a young age, Zalalem now finds himself in a position to become a more regular player for NYCFC this season. While he does not have the same hype surrounding him now as he did when he was making FA Cup and Champions League appearances, the technically-gifted midfielder could be playing with a chip on his shoulder as he approaches this 2022 campaign. Wildly enough, despite these debut appearances for The Gunners happening in 2014, about 8 years ago now, Gidion is still only 25 years old! The midfielder surely has gas left in the tank, and a point to prove.

Alongside this point to prove comes an opportunity for starting minutes in NYCFC’s midfield trio. The departure of homegrown player, James Sands, and no significant midfield signings means there could be more minutes available at central midfield. While Maxi Moralez will lock down the starting #10 spot (if he stays healthy), and Alfredo Morales likely locking down the holding #6 role, the opportunity could arise in Keaton Park’s #8 position, as he returns to full health from a bizarre heath scare following a blood clot in his leg towards the back end of last season.

With that said, this opportunity could easily fall into the hands of another NYCFC central midfielder in Nico Acevedo. The Uruguayan is also young (at just 22 years old) and could also slot into the #8 role. Acevedo actually got more minutes than Gideon last year as well, but, I gave Zalalem the nod here for two reasons:

1. He got the start vs Santos in the first leg of the CCL. I know they are a weaker opponent, but Deila putting faith in him in the first game of the year is somewhat of a statement in my eyes, and he looked really good. He was confident on the ball, playing seemingly every pass 1 touch, and was constantly checking his shoulder and finding pockets of space to work in.

2. He probably has a higher ceiling than Acevedo. I’m certainly not a scout, but someone who was able to catch the eye’s of Arsenal at such a young age, and then perform well at Rangers (Where our star-boy James Sands is struggling to get minutes), suggests that there’s something there with Gidion. I know it didn’t really work out in Europe for him, but at just 25 and seemingly in a better environment, it seems like this could be the year for Zelalem to re-discover some of his potential.

3) Thiago Andrade, LW/RW I almost didn’t put Thiago in this list. Not because I didn’t think he would have a great season, but rather, because he might be too good to be considered a “Dark Horse”. When he was signed last season at $1.8 million, he actually became NYCFC’s 4th most expensive signing in club history. Which makes it weird to think he wasn’t even the most expensive, young, Brazilian winger we signed that summer. The hype surrounding Thiago’s signing is often a bit overshadowed by the arrival of Talles Magno from Vasco de Gaia for over $8 million, which dwarfed Thiago’s fee.

But despite the differences in the two young Brazilian’s price tags, I was actually more impressed with Thiago than Talles last season, both in terms of the eye test and statistically. While Magno has the higher ceiling as a player, last season Andrade had more appearances, more goals, and more assists. But, for me it wasn’t necessarily the number of goals that impressed me, but rather the quality of each goal. Thiago quite literally only scored bangers last year, including this game winning, full-field, 95th minute solo goal to walk it off against DC United:

What I love about Andrade is his directness. He just takes off towards goal whenever he has the ball at his feet, and puts defenders in really difficult situations all game long. We saw this with a nice assist vs Santos in the second leg, where he drove past defenders to the byline and squared it perfectly for Talles to tap in. If he can offer more of that during this season, I think he should easily be putting up 10+ goal involvements for the boys in blue in 2022.