Who will stay and who will go?
Now that New York City FC missed the 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs and it's fully time to look ahead to 2027, what's supposed to be the biggest year in the club's history, the speculation game can begin in earnest when it comes to the future of the squad.
After New York City played to an elimination-confirming 1-1 draw with CF Montréal at Citi Field, two long-tenured veteran members of the team — Keaton Parks and Thiago Martins — made it clear that they may have played their last home matches as members of the club.
Parks has a contract option that could have extended his time with NYCFC through 2027 (as well as through 2028), but in the mixed zone following the Montréal match, he said that option has already been declined.
"No option, and then we'll see if they offer me anything else, but as of right now, this is my last home game," said Parks. This was the 29-year-old's eighth season with NYCFC, and he's made over 200 appearances for the club, but since 2021 his health has regularly kept him sidelined, as was the case again for a few different stretches of the 2026 season.
"I think I need to be healthy more. I think that's unfortunate. I mean, we had a lot of injuries this year, but we have a lot of talent still on the team. We should have done better," Parks said while discussing what kept the 2026 NYCFC team from hitting the simplest of targets, simply reaching the MLS Cup Playoffs, something 60% of teams in Major League Soccer do given the sizable playoff field.
"I think there's things that need to be worked on throughout the club, and get the right mentality back, and get the team back to winning ways...Just a lot of things that weren't clicking this year," Parks continued while discussing the failure of the 2026 team.
The year will end on Decision Day in Washington, DC, for this team, and Parks says he ends it in good shape physically, even while his playing future is shrouded in uncertainty.
"I'm right there on the fringe of full health, and so I feel good. Just got to get my fitness back, keep playing games, and it's too bad that we're not making a playoff run. A little bit more time to have on the team and be a part of it, but yeah, I'm feeling good, and I'll be ready for sure for next season."
The door wasn't completely closed by Parks on NYCFC, but given what Pascal Jansen also said about player availability following his team's elimination (more from him in a bit), and given how past-tense it all seemed to be for Keaton when discussing the team, it becomes harder to see him re-signing with NYCFC.
The other high-profile veteran possibly on his way out is center-back and club captain Thiago Martins. The 31-year-old is out of contract at season's end, with the agreement he originally signed in 2022 coming to an end.
He said in an interview with The City Boys Show in September that he'd been in talks with New York City FC about his future and extending his stay in New York, but after the Montréal home finale, it sounded less certain that he'll be returning to NYCFC next season.
Thiago Martins was asked about looking forward to a new stadium:
— BLUE BALLS NYCFC (@BlueBallsPod) October 31, 2026
“I dunno if I’m gonna stay. I don’t know if I’m gonna be here for the new home (because) I don’t have a contract. We already started some conversations but I don’t know how they feel, so now I’m just waiting”
Thiago had a down year by his standards, even as the NYCFC defense continued to be one of the better groups in the league when it came to the number of goals conceded this season. If you look at how Martins measures in net goals added (g+), the advanced metric from American Soccer Analysis that tries to measure a player's full value in attack and in defense, this season he placed in only the 29th percentile of his center-back peers in net g+, a far cry from when he was in the 75th percentile of this same metric at the end of the 2025 season.
