Talles Magno returned to New York City last week following the conclusion of his loan with Corinthians. After 67 appearances over nearly 18 months with the Série A side, the Brazilian returns to a New York City FC squad depleted up front and looking to build off an unexpected run to the Eastern Conference Final under Pascal Jansen.
With club talisman Alonso Martínez down with an ACL injury that’s set to sideline him until after this summer’s World Cup, and other forward options lacking consistency in front of goal, could 2026 be an opportunity for Talles Magno to play his way back into the New York City lineup?
Where was Talles Magno?
Still, somehow, only 23 years old, Talles Magno did not have a particularly prolific stint back home in Brazil. An MLS Cup Champion with NYCFC in 2021, Talles Magno had an 11-goal breakout season in 2022, but his form fell off a cliff in 2023. New York City loaned him out in 2024 to revitalize his career — and his transfer value.
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Talles Magno scores for Corinthians | Via Instagram
Talles Magno joined Corinthians on loan back in August 2024, with the loan initially set to run only through June 2025. The Brazilian side extended this through to the end of the year. Across 67 combined appearances in league, cup (Libertadores, Sudamericana, and Brazilian), and regional championship (Campeonato Paulista) matches, Talles contributed nine goals and six assists, which works out to one goal contribution every two games.
While the overall numbers aren’t bad, the winger’s performance, once again, took a dive: The Brazilian managed just one league goal in 2025. With his creative output flatlining, the winger fell desperately out of favor in São Paulo.
This isn’t entirely Talles Magno’s fault, however, as Corinthians made it clear early on that the Brazilian wasn’t going to be the main threat in attack. Instead, the São Paulo club signed Dutch forward Memphis Depay as a free agent in September 2024 following the conclusion of his contract with Atlético de Madrid, and asked him to lead the forward line.
While Depay took quickly to playing in Brazil, bagging 33 goal contributions in 65 games, his form derailed Talles Magno’s Brazilian homecoming, forcing him down the pecking order. By July 2025, Talles Magno was out of the Starting XI, failing to record a single start in the final five months of his loan.
Andrew Leigh
Now what?
The return of Talles Magno comes at a pivotal time for the trajectories of both NYCFC’s upcoming season and the Designated Player’s career.
With Martínez sidelined, the club will be missing its leading goal-scorer for the past two seasons. Looking at the team’s depth chart, it’s clear that the Pigeons are light on consistent goal scorers heading into the 2026 season.
Newly appointed Sporting Director Todd Dunivant has yet to meet the press or elaborate on how the club will bridge the gap ahead of Martínez’s return from injury. That leaves a plethora of options on the table — including, to the surprise of nearly everyone who follows this team, Talles Magno.
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Talles Magno scores for Corinthians in the Copa Sudamericana | Courtesy CONMEBOL Sudamericana
The forward’s 19 goals in all competitions for New York City put him at #8 among all-time scoring leaders, and his 14 in league play put him in a three-way tie at #12. Talles Magno was at his best in 2022, when he was playing off the left of Taty Castellanos. That year, he scored seven league goals and added 10 assists. Those numbers are comparable to those put up last year by Hannes Wolf, who also plays on the left: Wolf was the club’s second-top scorer in 2025, bagging 11 goals and five assists in league play.
But the NYCFC wings are congested. Agustín Ojeda and Julián Fernández also play out wide, and didn’t contribute many goal involvements despite their high potential. The Argentine youngsters combined for just four goals in all competitions despite playing over 3,400 combined minutes between them. Still, the two pacey wingers bring an element of danger to the attack, and either is capable of a breakout season.
If Talles were to slot back into the Starting XI, the ideal option would be to deploy him off the left in his preferred position, playing off Nico Fernández Mercau or Seymour Reid at the No 9. If the immediate months following Taty’s departure taught New York City fans anything, it’s that Talles is not a striker.
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That Talles Magno celly | Courtesy CONMEBOL Sudamericana
Fernández Mercau can play across the forward line and played well through the middle during the playoffs. He would be the ideal complement up front for Talles, with Wolf operating off the right — where the winger played at Borussia Mönchengladbach and at NYCFC in 2024 under Nick Cushing.
Seymour Reid has shown glimpses of his potential so far, but is still just 17 and enters the season as a raw prospect who did most of his goal scoring in MLS Next Pro.
A healthy trio of Talles Magno, Fernández Mercau, and Wolf, on paper, is a more than capable trio to challenge in the East. If the club were to look within to try to quell some of the bleeding left from Martínez’s absence, it may present Talles Magno with an opportunity to come back into the fold.
Will Pascal Jansen go for it?
Talles Magno is one of the highest financial earners in the squad, raking in $1,065,000 in guaranteed compensation in 2025 — that looks to be the fourth-highest on the team, trailing only Fernández Mercau, Thiago Martins, and Wolf. At the same time, the Brazilian is still under contract through December 2027.
The simple truth is that Talles Magno is a massive asset the club will have to utilize or cut loose.
According to Transfermarkt, the Brazilian’s market value currently hovers around €4.50 million – that’s down from a high of €15 million in 2022 – but the Pigeons are unlikely to get anything close to that on the open market, considering the Brazilian has failed to score more than 10 goals in a season since his breakout MLS campaign in 2022.
The loan back to Brazil at Corinthians was supposed to serve as the perfect launchpad for Talles Magno to reignite his form and, eventually, allow NYC to recoup part of the $8.46 million paid to Vasco de Gama for him back in 2021. Instead, that loan may have set the Brazilian back even further, tanking his prospective value in the process.
At 23, he still has the time to reach the heights of his previous self, but it’s another question entirely if New York City has the ability to continue paying Talles Magno more than $1 million per season to figure it out. Another loan move makes sense from a club perspective, but would it raise the Brazilian’s value? That seems unlikely, given the past 18 months. But if a club were to request his services and pay the majority of his salary, it would be hard to imagine Dunivant and NYCFC saying no.
For the time being, Talles Magno seems to be reintegrating into the club. With the Pigeons returning to the training pitch this week and starting their 2026 preseason tour, the club released video and photographs of Talles Magno back with the boys, laughing and smiling with old friends. Could he become Jansen’s redemption project?
He would have an entire preseason to adjust to life under the new coach and develop chemistry with teammates old and new. It could be that 2026 presents Talles Magno with the chance to redeem his time at New York City, and revitalize his career.
The club has made no real noise on the transfer market so far, and is notoriously slow when it comes to making significant additions to the first team squad, generally preferring to make major moves in the summer. This may provide Talles with a window of opportunity to gain some favor at the start of the season.
Crucially, Jansen will look at Talles Magno with fresh eyes. While the return of the DP might seem like a step back for the club, the player, and even the fans of New York City, Talles is a new prospect as far as the Head Coach is concerned. From his point of view, Jansen is being handed a 23-year-old winger who was once considered one of the brightest youth prospects in global soccer, a prodigious dribbler who helped Corinthians avoid the embarrassment of relegation in 2025.
Maybe this is the year that the Talles Magno Experience proves to be beneficial for both parties.
John Baney
Talles looked excellent in his last few games for us. Worth another shot! But we should sign an established veteran striker for the short term. Seymour Reed is not ready…
Reid is raw, but he’s going to get a chance to show out during preseason. He certainly has the physical ability to contribute. And not for nothing, but I was watching a Serie A match over the weekend and a 16-year-old came into a tight match and scored the leveler with his first touch of the ball. It’s a funny game.
I agree with Christopher completely, but I am very doubtful that we will sign another striker before the summer.I’m sure NYCFC explained to Talles that he may end up finding he enjoys playing for Pascal more than he did Cushing…and if he doesn’t want to stay for any reason, playing well is how he gets his ticket to where he wants to be.I would desperately like for us to sign some depth at striker, but I think it’s likely we see Fernando, Seymour , and Julian at times at striker duty until the summer window.
the constellation seems aligned to give Talles another shot “under new management” at least ‘til the summer window i assume (y’all pls remember this summer window is even a crazier one due to that soccer event in north america right?). as a fan, mixed feeling of having him back with a ‘big leap hope’. however, had we not known of him, somehow his profile on the paper seems fitting the current need of the team, no?guessing from the FO keepin him in the front line media in Jan, me preppin’ to see him some NYCFC game time in the spring. makes business sense after all, and it’s business right?
Something tells me Pascal is going to like what he sees with Talles Magno and conclude, “I can use this guy.” But it’s going to be up to Talles Magno to prove he can track back and defend. He’ll have to be more determined in the press, too.
This is Talles chance to write his NYCFC redemption story. The minutes are there for the taking – he has to train hard, be a good teammate, and go grab it