Analysis + Opinion — Long Read

Is Alonso Martínez the most clinical finisher in NYCFC history?

The converted winger is scoring goals at a pace that puts him at the top of New York City FC's record books — and at the top of Major League Soccer this year.

,   and  Oliver Strand
12 min read
Is Alonso Martínez the most clinical finisher in NYCFC history?
El Clínico | courtesy newyorkcityfc.com

When Alonso Martínez scored a brace in the draw with Chicago Fire two Saturdays ago, it brought him to 10 goals in 18 appearances in Major League Soccer this year.

With those two goals, El Clínico became just the 13th New York City FC player to reach 10 or more goals during league play in a single season. That milestone was mostly overlooked after a game in which New York City gave up a comfortable lead to settle for a 2-2 draw.

It’s a shame. That night, Martínez joined a list that features David Villa (four times), Taty Castellanos (three times), Jack Harrison (once), Héber (once), Frank Lampard (once), Alexandru Mitriță (once), and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (once). Just as telling are the attackers who never quite made it to double-digits. That includes Jesús Medina (nine goals in 2021), Maxi Moralez (eight goals in 2018), Gabriel Pereira (eight goals in 2022), and Talles Magno (seven goals in 2022).

New York City FC | All-Time Leading Goal Scorers

Name Year Goals Mins
1. David Villa 2016 23 2869
2. David Villa 2017 22 2556
3. Taty Castellanos 2021 19 2760
4. David Villa 2015 18 2514
5. Héber 2019 15 1575
6. David Villa 2018 14 1754
7. Taty Castellanos 2022 13 1436
8. Alexandru Mitriță 2019 12 2172
Frank Lampard 2016 12 1280
10. Alonso Martínez 2024 11 994
Ismael Tajouri-Shradi 2018 11 1547
Taty Castellanos 2019 11 2052
13. Jack Harrison 2017 10 2757

*10 or more goals, MLS regular season

Martínez added another goal when New York City faced Columbus Crew over the weekend, and once again his achievement was overshadowed when the team lost a game they could have won. With that goal Martínez not only climbs into NYCFC’s all-time Top 10, he establishes himself as one of the most efficient finishers in the history of the club. Martínez needed just 994 minutes to reach 11 goals, easily outpacing the others on the list — and placing him among the very elite of MLS players this season.

It’s a remarkable ascension for a repurposed winger who spent most of the year as New York City’s second-choice striker, a 25-year-old who joined the club last year as a depth piece from Lommel SK in Belgium’s second division, but who now ranks among Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez as the best attackers in the league.

And yet Martínez continues to fly under the radar. He is easily the least-showy striker in MLS, a player who smiles easily in postgame interviews and whose goals are too straightforward to make the highlight reels. As we put it in yesterday’s Player Ratings, Martínez doesn’t take flashy shots, or look to be fouled, or mess with his hair color. There are no neck tattoos, or Instagram stories of him roaming New York City with his posse. To be perfectly honest, he looks and acts more like the assistant coach on a college soccer team than one of the most in-form strikers in MLS.

But Martínez is now among the league elite, a goal-scorer who finds the back of the net because of his intelligent positioning, a silky first touch, and an ability to find the textbook-best shot you would map out on a whiteboard.

Let’s take a deeper look at the player we call El Clínico.

994 minutes

The table above is ordered by goals scored, which puts Martínez in 10th place, even with Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (2018) and Taty Castellanos (2019). But as they say on Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the others.” Martínez reached that mark in 994 minutes, which makes him the only player on the list with fewer than 1000 minutes.

That works out to 1.00 goals every 90 minutes, well above the others. To go by the clock, Martínez is the best finisher in club history.

Not only that, he’s the most efficient goal-scorer in the league among players with 10 or more goals. As of the publication of this article, there are 25 players in MLS who are in the double-digit club, and Martínez is the only one with 1000 or fewer minutes. To put that in context, Columbus Crew’s Diego Rossi and Orlando City’s Facundo Torres both just scored their 10th goals over the weekend, and both needed more than 2000 minutes to do it.

MLS Leading Goal-Scorers

Name Club G Mins
1. Cristian Arango Real Salt Lake 17 1,899
Christian Benteke DC United 17 1,993
3. Luis Suarez Inter Miami 16 1,441
Denis Bouanga LAFC 16 2,233
5. Petar Musa FC Dallas 14 1,864
Dániel Gazdag Philadelphia Union 14 1,950
7. Mateusz Bogusz LAFC 13 2,122
Andrés Gomez Real Salt Lake 13 1,815
Cucho Hernandez Columbus Crew 13 1,606
Filipe Mora Portland Timbers 13 1,393
Jonathan Rodríguez Portland Timbers 13 1,888
Rafael Navarro Colorado Rapids 13 2,169
13. Evander Portland Timbers 12 1,919
Dejan Joveljic LA Galaxy 12 1,494
Lionel Messi Inter Miami 12 1,035
Lewis Morgan New York Red Bulls 12 1,880
Brian White Vancouver Whitecaps 12 1,915
18. Alonso Martínez New York City FC 11 994
Luciano Acosta FC Cincinnati 11 2,079
Gabriel Pec LA Galaxy 11 2,191
21. Hugo Cuypers Chicago Fire 10 2,285
Djordie Mihailovic Colorado Rapids 10 1,933
Jordan Morris Seattle Sounders 10 2,188
Diego Rossi Columbus Crew 10 2,012
Facundo Torres Orlando City 10 2,055

*Through September 3, 2024

There are different ways to parse these figures. One is by goals per 90 minutes. Martínez clocks in at a cool 1.00 goals per 90, which puts him ahead of Real Salt Lake’s Cristian Arango (0.81) and DC United’s Christian Benteke (0.77), who are currently tied for first place in the Golden Boot race. He’s above ruthless goal-scorers like Columbus Crew’s Cucho Hernandez (0.73), Philadelphia Union’s Dániel Gazdag (0.65), and LAFC’s Denis Bouanga (0.64). If the rule of thumb for a striker is one goal for every two games played, El Clínico is pulling a double shift.

Really, the only MLS players who are keeping pace with Martínez are Miami’s Lionel Messi (1.04) and Luis Suarez (1.00).

MLS | Goals/90 Minutes

Name Club Goals Mins Goals/90
1. Lionel Messi Inter Miami 12 1,035 1.04
2. Luis Suarez Inter Miami 16 1,441 1.00
3. Alonso Martínez New York City FC 11 994 1.00
4. Filipe Mora Portland Timbers 13 1,393 0.84
5. Cristian Arango Real Salt Lake 17 1,899 0.81
6. Christian Benteke DC United 17 1,993 0.77
7. Cucho Hernandez Columbus Crew 13 1,606 0.73
8. Dejan Joveljic LA Galaxy 12 1,494 0.72
9. Petar Musa FC Dallas 14 1,864 0.68
10. Dániel Gazdag Philadelphia Union 14 1,950 0.65

*Through September 3, 2024

Another is by goals per shot on target as expressed by a percentage. In other words, by how wasteful the player is when shooting on goal. Some players, like LAFC’s Denis Bouanga, score a lot of goals but waste a lot of attempts: The forward has 126 shots, 49 of which are on target, and converted just 32.7% of those. Golden Boot c0-leaders Arango converted 42.5% of his shots (which doesn’t make the Top 10), while Benteke converted a more competitive 51.5%, and is one of just five players to crack 50.0%.

And Martínez? He leads the league. The New York City player’s 11 goals were scored from 20 shots on target, which works out to a conversion rate of 55.0%.

MLS | Goals/SOT %

Name Club Goals Shots SOT G/SOT %
1. Alonso Martínez New York City FC 11 37 20 55.0%
2. Felipe Mora Portland Timbers 13 47 24 54.2%
3. Christian Benteke DC United 17 74 33 51.5%
4. Dániel Gazdag Philadelphia Union 14 41 28 50.0%
5. Brian White Vancouver Whitecaps 12 51 24 50.0%
6. Djordje Mihailovic Colorado Rapids 10 45 21 47.6%
7. Petar Musa FC Dallas 14 77 30 46.7%
8. Luciano Acosta FC Cincinnati 11 69 24 45.8%
9. Facundo Torres Orlando City 10 47 22 45.5%
10. Dejan Joveljić LA Galaxy 12 44 27 44.4%

Martínez’s most recent MLS appearances show that these figures aren’t a fluke. Against Chicago, he scored twice in 79 minutes against a team sitting at the bottom of the table and that tends to leak goals on the road. Against Columbus he scored on the road against the toughest defense in the league, finding the back of the net against a team that had given up just seven goals in 11 home games going into that match.

More to the point, it’s not just that he scored. It’s how he scored.

El Clínico

If you were to categorize Martínez’s style of play among New York City’s historical attackers, he’s less like a Castellanos or a Villa, who were magnificent if wasteful strikers, and more like a Héber or a Lampard, who used their positioning and quick decision-making to find a way to score.

Castellanos and Villa wanted the attack to run through them — they never passed up a chance to take a shot, no matter the angle, the range, or the wall of defenders. They were classic No 9s: Confident, greedy, and willing to play the odds.

Héber and Lampard were far more economical and made the most of their chances.

New York City FC | Goals/90 Minutes

Name Year Goals Mins Goals/90
1. Alonso Martínez 2024 11 994 1.00
2. Héber 2019 15 1575 0.86
3. Frank Lampard 2016 12 1280 0.84
4. Taty Castellanos 2022 13 1436 0.81
5. David Villa 2017 22 2556 0.77
6. David Villa 2016 23 2869 0.72
7. David Villa 2018 14 1754 0.72
9. Ismael Tajouri-Shradi 2018 11 1547 0.64
10. Taty Castellanos 2021 19 2760 0.62
11. Alexandru Mitriță 2019 12 2172 0.50
12. Taty Castellanos 2019 11 2052 0.48
13. Jack Harrison 2017 10 2757 0.33

*10 or more goals, MLS regular season

But Héber and Lampard also benefitted from being on teams that fielded multiple scoring threats. Héber’s 15 goals in 2019 came while playing alongside Mitriță, a Designated Player acquired for a reported €8 million transfer fee (then the third-highest in MLS history), and Castellanos, who was developing into the star he is today. They gave him cover, drawing defenders while he floated in when he saw his chance. The three combined for 38 goals that year. As for Lampard, he was playing alongside late-prime Villa, whose 23 goals that season were just short of the 24 scored by Golden Boot-winner Bradly Wright-Phillips. Villa’s nonstop desire to carry the ball and fire off a shot opened room for Lampard to make late runs and score on scrambled defenses.

Martínez doesn’t have those luxuries. There’s no Castellanos or Villa terrorizing opposing defenders and creating space. Instead, Martínez needs to find a way to score even though the other team’s center-backs are tracking him to mark him out of the game.

New York City FC | Goals/SOT %

Name Year Goals Shots SOT G/SOT %
1. Ismael Tajouri-Shradi 2018 11 35 16 68.8%
2. Héber 2019 15 56 26 57.7%
3. Frank Lampard 2016 12 33 21 57.1%
4. Alonso Martínez 2024 11 37 20 55.0%
5. Héber 2022 8 34 15 53.3%
6. Gabriel Periera 2022 8 33 16 50.0%
7. David Villa 2017 22 136 55 40.0%
8. Taty Castellanos 2022 13 81 33 39.4%
9. Taty Castellanos 2019 11 80 31 35.5%
10. David Villa 2016 23 166 68 33.8%

*MLS regular season

Case in point: Saturday’s loss to Columbus, when Martínez scored in the fourth minute. Not only are Columbus one of the best teams in the league, they were embarrassed by Martínez just two weeks earlier, when he scored 12 seconds into the Leagues Cup Quarterfinals: If there was one thing Columbus didn’t want to let happen again, it was to allow Martínez to score early.

We already looked at Tayvon Gray’s assist in yesterday’s Player Ratings: His situational awareness, his perfectly weighted ball that sliced through the defense. Now let’s look at what Martínez did with that ball once it was at his feet


First, there’s the first touch with his left foot, and the quick 270˚ turn to the left. It looks like Martínez expected the ball to be played to his right where he could run into it, but it instead arrives just behind him and to his left. Martínez recovers before the ball gets to him, squares his body, shifts his weight, and executes that elegant turn.

Then there are the two quick touches with the outside of his right foot he uses to carry the ball into the penalty box to open up his angle on goal. It’s a basic move, but well-executed: Move the ball but keep it close.

Finally, there’s the shot that he sends across the front of the goal past a diving Patrick Schulte and just inside the far post. It’s taken with power – you can see it when Martínez hops after he makes contact – but it skims along the surface of the grass just out of Schulte’s reach.

The entire sequence lasts a little longer than two seconds.

In many ways, it was an archetypal Martínez goal: A quick reaction, a simple move to create space, a well-placed shot that beats the goalkeeper through equal parts power and precision.

We saw something similar in his second goal against Chicago two weeks ago. In this case, Keaton Parks scoops up an errant pass in the box, Martínez jumps on the loose ball, creates a little bit of space with two small touches with the outside of his right foot, and then fires a shot over the head of goalkeeper Chris Brady, who isn’t sure if he should drop down to cover the ground.


Stunning in its quickness and efficiency

As Senior Editor Andrew Leigh put it when writing about a different standout performance by Martínez, “the goal was stunning in its quickness and efficiency.”

Really, that phrase could be applied to virtually all of the goals scored by Martínez. There are misses to be sure, but there aren’t many labored attempts or poor shots. Is it because Martínez is a converted winger? He might occupy the position of a No 9, but at times he functions more like a Gabriel Pereira or a Tajouri-Shradi who happens to play in the middle.

New York City has turned wingers into strikers before. The club successfully converted Castellanos from the wing, and developed him into the goal machine he is today. They were less successful last year with Talles Magno, who didn’t seem comfortable playing in a central position.

Where Talles Magno was always looking to dribble the ball – and maybe land on a highlight reel – Martínez simply tries to find space. As we saw when Martínez scored three goals against San Jose Earthquakes on June 1, he can make scoring look easy.


Once again, he makes a well-timed run, puts himself in the right position, and picks his shot. In the clip above, notice how he holds back to remain off the shoulder of the defender, accelerates to occupy the space where the ball will be, and then slows his pace so that he can meet the cross while in stride. Once again, the finish was well-taken but it was nothing special. That’s because he did all the hard work before he took his shot.

As impressive as these numbers might be, they come with seven games left in the season — and none of them against easy opponents. If Martínez plays every minute of every remaining league game he could reach 1624 minutes by the end of the year, and these eye-popping numbers could start looking a little more normal.

Or he could continue this run of form, and find ways to score.

That’s what he did last Saturday. And the Saturday before that, and the Saturday before that.

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