2025 Final Grade: Mitja Ilenič

Mitja Ilenič made a statement of intent on Matchday 1 of the 2025 season, but by the year's final game he was a little-used substitute who spent most of his summer working his way out of coach Pascal Jansen's proverbial dog house. 

The right-fullback's playing time decreased in 2025 under Jansen, with Ilenič playing the fewest minutes in 2025 that he’s played in any of his three seasons in the United States.

The 20-year-old from Slovenia flashed attacking potential when given his opportunities, scoring two goals and picking up two assists, but he was unable to supplant Tayvon Gray as the clear-cut starter at right-back or right-wingback, and it’s now fair to wonder about his future with New York City given his diminishing usage and that given that there’s a new Sporting Director in charge of the club.

Early promise

Tayvon Gray was slowed by injury to start the season, and Ilenič was the beneficiary, starting and scoring a goal in the 2025 season-opener – then hitting Cristiano Ronaldo’s “Siu” celebration while sharing the field with Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami CF, bringing the endless online Ronaldo vs Messi debate to life at Chase Stadium. 

He started eight of the first nine matches of the 2025 season, essentially playing a starter’s share of minutes in all nine given that his one substitute appearance in that period came within the first five minutes of the team's 1-0 loss at LAFC on Matchday 2 of the season, when Tayvon Gray limped off injured. 

It looked like life was off to a good start for Ilenič under Pascal Jansen, until it no longer was.

Between a brief spell on the sidelines with an injury of his own, Gray’s return to health, and time spent away from NYCFC while with Slovenia’s U-21 squad on international duty, Ilenič waited from April 19 to July 3 between chances in the Starting XI, a span of 10 matches. 

Ilenič looked amazing in the one chance to start that he earned on July 3 against Toronto FC at Yankee Stadium, scoring his second goal of the season and assisting another, but the young fullback would only appear in the Starting XI in two of NYCFC’s subsequent 22 matches played after that early-July breakout.

Summer of discontent

The most glaring problem point in Ilenič’s season came when he was dropped entirely from the New York City FC squad that faced Orlando City SC on the road in the heat of Central Florida on Matchday 22, part of the team’s lengthy four-match road trip in the middle of the summer. 

Pascal Jansen, after the match, attributed Ilenič’s absence to the player being distracted, saying "Mitja is a guy who has some things on his mind at the moment which keep him quite occupied. I just want to have guys on the roster that are fully committed to what we are trying to achieve at the moment, that's why he wasn't part of the roster today."

From that moment on, Ilenič was an unused substitute stuck on the NYCFC bench in 13 of 20 games played, across all competitions, to close out the season. He faded from involvement down the stretch as Jansen leaned on Tayvon Gray for some pretty obvious defensive reasons.

While there were some sketchy transfer rumors linking Ilenič with a number of clubs based in Europe that emerged not long after his benching in Orlando, no transfer materialized, and Ilenič instead slid into the role of little-used substitute for the rest of the season.

Defensive deficiencies make a difference

The performance difference between Tayvon Gray and Mitja Ilenič in 2025 hinged heavily on their defensive contributions.

Ilenič did not rate well for his defensive actions in games in 2025, in the 11th percentile of MLS fullbacks for tackles plus interceptions per 90 minutes, and in the 17th percentile of fullbacks for both dribblers tackled and blocks per 90.

He never put up eye-popping numbers in these categories in his two previous MLS seasons, always more the attacking fullback between he and Gray, but Ilenič’s defensive stats fell precipitously in 2025.

The contrast between what he and Gray offered was clear: Gray had a strong year tackling dribblers and locking down his side of the field defensively, while Ilenič played more like a wide attacking midfielder when he saw the pitch.

Jansen preferred Gray’s work, even if Gray had zero goal contributions this season after a year in 2024 in which he picked up seven assists. Gray’s percentile ranks among MLS fullbacks in the key defensive stats are miles ahead of where Ilenič ranked in each category in 2025, making him the preferred choice on the right.

What's in store in 2026?

Both Ilenič and Gray have contracts that run through 2026, though Ilenič has an option that could extend his stay with NYCFC through 2027. Gray seems like a prime contract extension candidate, while Ilenič feels to be at a crossroads with New York City FC.

Does Ilenič return for a fourth season and start another year trying to outperform a player who consistently has had a leg up on him during his MLS career? Or is this the winter he finally gets a move to a club in Europe, which he's been linked with before, as he now seeks a place that will guarantee him more minutes?

Ilenič reliably got minutes in 2025 with the Slovenia youth national team, even playing for his country's U-21s at the UEFA U-21 European Championship this past summer. Yet even those national-team opportunities began to get turned aside late in the NYCFC season, as Ilenič twice received call-ups but wasn't permitted to travel to join up with his Slovenia U-21 teammates.

Ilenič is still a highly-regarded young player who has shown glimmers of a dangerous and effective attacking fullback. Just this week, Transfermarkt listed Ilenič as one of the 10 most-valuable under-21 players to watch in MLS, praise that might be based more on his reputation than on what he did on the field in MLS in 2025.

It wasn't a year to remember for Mitja Ilenič with NYCFC, even though it started out with lots of promise, and now we'll spend the winter wondering if we'll see him out there again with the Boys in Blue in 2026.

Final Grade: C+