2025 New York City FC Player Preview: Agustín Ojeda

Agustín Ojeda played only limited minutes in his first season with New York City FC, with three goals scored across 25 appearances not the best return on the $5.5 million transfer fee required to sign him from Racing Club in February 2024.

A certain amount of hype accompanied his arrival given the praise the 20-year-old Argentine received coming through Racing Club’s youth academy and while breaking through with their senior squad.

The signs of that potential were there during Ojeda’s first season in MLS, but he faded from consistent involvement in Nick Cushing’s team once Leagues Cup arrived in 2024.

He ended the season a scarcely-used substitute, but in 2025 Ojeda, much like his Argentine countryman and fellow wide attacker Julián Fernández, will be hoping a fresh start under new coach Pascal Jansen translates to a bigger role and a bigger individual season.

What Ojeda did well in 2024

Ojeda only logged 921 minutes across his 22 appearances made during the MLS regular season, but he did flash his abilities as a ball carrier, finisher, and accurate passer.

Ojeda completed 86% of his passes and his 4.48 progressive carries per 90 minutes, ones that brought the ball into the penalty area or upfield by at least 10 yards, ranked him in the 93rd percentile of MLS wingers and attacking midfielders in 2024 according to FBRef.com.

He got into dangerous positions and had some high-quality chances in those 22 appearances. Ojeda’s 0.38 non-penalty expected goals (npxG) per 90 minutes had him in the 84th percentile of wingers and attacking mids last season, and his 5.84 touches in the opponent’s penalty area per 90 was good for the 92nd percentile.

He scored in his very first MLS start in a 2-0 home win over New England Revolution in April, and that goal was a good glimpse of Ojeda’s abilities. It was an unstoppable rip that rattled the top-corner of the goal, and one that Ojeda uncorked with zero hesitation, taken as he latched onto a loose ball near the top of the New England 18-yard box.

YOU DON'T SAVE THOSE 🚀 pic.twitter.com/bOCPOosPkP

— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) April 14, 2024

Ojeda’s most consistent run in the team would follow. Including that New England game, Ojeda started eight of the next 12 games for NYCFC, logging over 600 of his 921 MLS minutes played in 2024. This was the window of games in which Ojeda scored all three of his goals in 2024, but his playing time wouldn’t hold up.

Where did he go?

Something really flipped from the start of Leagues Cup on for Ojeda in 2024, and not in a good way. NYCFC played 18 games from Leagues Cup through to their elimination from the MLS Cup Playoffs and Ojeda was an unused substitute in 11 of them.

He only made three starts out of those final 18 games of the season, playing a minor role as an occasional substitute while Santiago Rodríguez became the starter in Ojeda’s preferred left-wing role, with Maxi Moralez back to health and back in his long-held No 10 role in the midfield.

Perhaps Ojeda’s last 2024 chance in the eyes of Nick Cushing came when he got two starts against Eastern Conference rivals Columbus Crew on August 31 and Philadelphia Union on September 18, but both those games saw Ojeda held scoreless and ineffective and both ended with NYCFC suffering heavy defeats, 4-2 in Columbus and 1-5 to Philadelphia at Yankee Stadium.

Not that you could pin either loss heavily on the 20-year-old winger, but those games were his last extended looks of the 2024 season. Was that down to Cushing preferring the tried-and-true combination of Santi and Maxi, or did Ojeda fail to keep up with the demands and grind of his first full MLS season?

What to expect in 2025

Santi Rodríguez is leaving for Botafogo in Brazil and Malachi Jones is not quite recovered fully from the broken leg he suffered last June, so there are two fewer challengers for minutes at left-wing than there could have been to start this 2025 season.

Ojeda will need to prove he’s a better option on the left than potentially playing one of Alonso Martínez or even Mounsef Bakrar over there, which Pascal Jansen has experimented with this preseason. Jansen has stressed that he wants more intensity and more toughness from his team this season, and Ojeda needs to still prove he has enough of both of those intangibles to get steady minutes in the NYCFC attack.

He’s poised with the ball in the 18-yard box and can pull off a tidy finish when given the opportunity, and now in 2025 Ojeda will just need to create more of those opportunities for himself to ensure he doesn’t disappear like he did late in 2024. He’s still just 20 years old and has loads of potential, but will be hoping to translate that into more tangible production this season.

New York City strikes first from the foot of Ojeda! ☝️ pic.twitter.com/gMW0rkvC51

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 15, 2024