New York City FC Academy product Tayvon Gray debuts in MLS

Already, the New York City FC Academy has seen promising movement in just a few short years, both in terms of developing players for top flites in Europe or in MLS play. It appears that Tayvon Gray is the next young player ready to take a step forward with the club.

Gray made his MLS debut on Saturday in a 5-0 win over FC Cincinnati. The 18-year old defender from the Bronx, signed this offseason as a Homgrown player, came on in the 83rd minute.

“It felt great making my debut, I’ve been waiting for this time all my life since I realized that I wanted to pursue soccer seriously,” Gray told reporters after his debut on Saturday. “Just proud that I got that off my chest. Time stuck out on the bench, it’s a good moment.”

In just a few years of operations, New York City FC has seen some promising returns from their academy. Joe Scally was transferred this offseason after establishing himself with the first team to Borussia Mönchengladbach. In addition, Gio Reyna spent significant time in the NYCFC set-up prior to signing with Borussia Dortmund.

And 20-year old James Sands, another academy product, has 41 appearances with 39 starts since progressing to the  New York City FC first team in 2017.

Gray, a promising defender, has made a couple of appearances with the United States U17 national team. He had integrated himself well with NYCFC’s academy, having spent time with the U17 and U19 team before making the jump to the first team.

After the match and the team clapped for the hometown fans, the supporters behind on of the goals at Yankee Stadium began to cheer for the teenaged debutante. At first, Gray was uncertain about the curtain call coming from the New York City FC faithful.

“That felt amazing – at first I didn’t know that they were screaming for me,” Gray said.

“I didn’t realize and then as I got closer they kept getting louder and louder, so I was like “oh that’s for me!” So I started throwing my hands up and stuff, so that was pretty cool! And then I have my family I have my dad and my mom, my uncle and my little sister in the stands.”

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