2025 New York City FC Player Preview: Tayvon Gray

Name: Tayvon Gray
Position: Right-back
Age: 22
Key Stat: 7 assists last season, third-most on the squad

Tayvon Gray emerged as New York City FC’s top attacking full-back last season. Totaling seven assists in 2024, the Homegrown’s playmaking abilities skyrocketed in his fourth season playing in the First Team.

Gray solidified himself as the starting right-back at the end of 2023, but at the start of last season, former head coach Nick Cushing elected to give Mitja Ilenič the starting spot for the first couple of months.

But things would change after the 2-1 win against the Red Bulls on May 18, when Gray was in the Starting XI and provided the winning assist to Mounsef Bakrar. Gray went on to start 16 of the 19 remaining regular season games. There were some matches in which both Gray and Ilenič started due to defensive injuries, but Gray was the primary starter for most of the regular season.

Once the playoffs came, Gray started the first game of Round One against FC Cincinnati, but llenič would get the nod for the remainder of the series and the Eastern Conference Semifinals defeat to Red Bulls.

What went right last season

What was it that led to Gray winning the starting spot over llenič? After Gray recorded his first assist of the season in the win against the Red Bulls, he would replicate that performance in the next game, providing the game-winning assist for a Keaton Parks header to defeat New England 1-0 on the road.

Gray finished the season with seven assists – the third-most on the team – only behind Santiago Rodríguez and Hannes Wolf. In September, he also scored his first career goal in the 1-5 rout of the Red Bulls. It was a beauty of a goal: Maxi Moralez laid a pass across the top of the box to Gray, who then hit it first-time and into the back of the net.

Tayvon Gray makes it FIVE for New York City FC. 🔵 pic.twitter.com/Eh1rh5gS4T

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 29, 2024

Those aforementioned seven assists and one goal totaled eight goal involvements for Gray last season, the most by any New York City fullback since Anton Tinnerholm, who also had eight in 2020. Tinnerholnm had 10 and nine goal involvements in 2016 and 2019, respectively.

New York City FC | Goal Involvements by Fullbacks

Player	Year	G	A	G+A
Anton Tinnerholm	2016	4	6	10
Anton Tinnerholm	2019	1	8	9
Anton Tinnerholm	2020	4	4	8
Tayvon Gray	2024	1	7	8
Ben Sweat	2017	1	6	7
Ronald Matarrita	2016	1	5	6

Gray’s offensive stats shine the most, but he’s just as sharp defensively. Per FBRef, he tackled 68.6 percent of dribblers faced and intercepted 29 passes, both the second-most on the team. He tackled 37 players overall, more than Birk Risa, Thiago Martins, and Ilenič.

What to expect in 2025

Gray set high standards for himself last season. After the win against the Red Bulls, Gray spoke on how he’s developed and improved during his time at NYCFC.

Tayvon Gray on his goal, team-high seven assists and setting up Andres Perea on his goal. #NYCFC pic.twitter.com/rKCLLgAvfl

— Matthew Mangam (@MatthewMangam) September 29, 2024

“I feel like I’m a good passer,” he said. “At right-back, it’s just about getting to the right spots, and I feel like I grew into that role; I learned how to play the position better. At the beginning of the season, everyone said I was just defensive, so I just wanted to show everybody that I was not one-dimensional.”

He also spoke on his emergence as an attacking right-back and someone who can create goals.

“I’m good on the ball, but also, my teammates study that,” he said. “They know I want to do those passes into the box, so it’s just them getting into the right places, and I just pass to them, really.”

With new head coach Pascal Jansen, it’s hard to predict who will be the starting right-back during the 2025 season. It’s likely that Jansen will have Ilenič and Gray share the duties until he settles on his starter. But with strong stats offensively and defensively, Gray makes a strong case for himself to be the starter.