Is Sporting KC’s newest striker a Pulido/Agada hybrid? What to know about Mason Toye

Sporting Kansas City’s front line will look a little different this season.

After five years with Alan Pulido in the mix at striker, those duties in 2025 will fall to William Agada and newly acquired free agent Mason Toye.

Toye answered a Zoom call with Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes and sporting director Mike Burns in the aftermath of Pulido’s exit, and it didn’t take long for him to realize that Kansas City would be a good fit.

Toye last week signed a one-year deal with Sporting KC for the 2025 Major League Soccer season. It includes a club option for 2026.

Toye and Vermes apparently hit it off right away.

“I connect a little bit easier to Peter just because he’s a Jersey guy,” Toye said of fellow New Jersey native Vermes. “I’ve been around people like him, minds like him and personalities like him, before.

“Immediately on the Zoom call, within a couple of minutes, I was like, ‘I really like this guy already.’”

Toye is a native of West Orange, New Jersey. After excelling at Indiana, a college soccer blueblood, Toye was drafted by Minnesota United. He spent a few years there before a trade sent him to Montreal, where he played some of the best soccer of his career.

In 2021, Toye scored seven goals and played his most minutes as a pro. That was also one of the most injury-free stretches of his career.

“Even my best season in the league was cut short (by injury) in the middle of the season,” Toye said. “I think the biggest thing I’ve really tried to focus on coming into here is just trying to be as healthy as I can be.

“Some of that is out of your hands. But I’m just trying to be as healthy as I can be.”

A healthy Toye could be a nice addition for Sporting KC. His 6-foot-3 frame makes him a good aerial target up top, especially late in games and on set pieces. He also has the speed and pace to get behind a defense.

“He can expose a team in behind,” Vermes said. “He’s pacey.”

Sporting KC forward Stephen Afrifa likened Toye, 26, to a hybrid of Agada and Pulido.

“He finds spots that I’m not used to the striker normally being in,” Afrifa said. “Willie and Alan had different play-styles. Mason kind of has a hybrid of it, and I love it. … I know that once I start seeing him there, it will be very easy for us to connect.”

Toye played with the first lineup Sporting KC put on the field during a 60-minute scrimmage against Florida International University on Saturday. That lineup failed to score a goal, and KC’s second group conceded a goal in a 1-0 preseason loss.

Toye is still adjusting and getting his positioning right. He understands that Vermes wants his team to get to the goal quickly this year, even when his players are in possession of the ball.

“Sometimes we might have to take 20 passes, sometimes it might be two or three,” Toye said.

Toye said he is working on finding pockets of space again in the build-up. That’s what’s required of the position on more possession-oriented teams.

“I used to do that a lot when I was younger,” he said. “And then as I got into the league, the way that different teams that I’ve been on played, that wasn’t really needed from me.

“So it’s pretty exciting for me to be able to add a little bit more to my game and continue to develop as a player.”

Sporting KC’s next preseason match is Saturday against Chicago Fire FC. Sporting’s first competitive match is Feb. 18 vs. Inter Miami CF in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.