Happy New Year from the transfer roundup and everyone else at MLSsoccer.com. Whether you loved or loathed the MLS proceedings of 2025, that’s all in the rearview mirror. Now it’s all about the promise and possibility of a huge year ahead.
In other words: Everyone’s still undefeated in ‘26!
Sure, the crustiest veterans of your particular fanbase might point out, from painful, hard-bitten experience, that trophies can’t be won in the offseason (though some would say they can be lost). But hey, let’s keep it positive at the dawn of another trip around the sun.
Here’s our regular rundown of the most notable and intriguing developments of the winter transfer window.
Chicago Fire FC made real gains in year one under head coach and director of football Gregg Berhalter, snapping a painful Audi MLS Cup Playoffs drought and making a modest amount of noise once they got there, producing some genuinely beautiful soccer along the way. And we can safely say they’re not standing pat after their 2025 success.
Before January even arrived, Chicago reinforced their engine room with the signing of Swedish international Anton Salétros, exercised their purchase option on playmaker André Franco (even in the wake of his unfortunate ACL tear in October), made a canny U22 Initiative wager on South African international center back Mbekezeli Mbokazi and added useful goalkeeping depth with the signing of Josh Cohen, while selling Brian Gutiérrez to Chivas Guadalajara in what looks like a win-win deal.
Perhaps most notably, the Fire recruited a highly desirable, MLS-proven free agent in Robin Lod, who did many things well in many different tactical roles across six-plus years with Minnesota United, to the tune of 34 goals, 33 assists and 185 key passes in 158 regular-season appearances. A 2024 All-Star and all-around good dude, the Finnish international has also been a postseason regular, which only lifts the outlook in Chicago.
The turnover has been more profound at Orlando City. The Lions appear to be turning the page on a stout, trophy-chasing squad that got a bit long in the tooth and faded down the stretch last season.
Oscar Pareja & Co. have bid farewell to goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, center back Rodrigo Schlegel and seven others since their Wild Card loss to the Fire. Meanwhile, both Colombian media reports and the player’s own social media presence suggest striker Luis Muriel (a mercurial contributor for most of his MLS days) is eager to return home to his boyhood club Atlético Junior as a reinforcement ahead of their 2026 Copa Libertadores campaign, perhaps even willing to take a pay cut to do so.
The Lions already plumbed Brazil, one of their ancestral hunting grounds, to fill two other premium roster slots: U22 Initiative swoops for 18-year-old defensive midfielder Luis Otávio from Internacional, reportedly for a hefty $3.5 million fee, and Tiago Souza, 20, a slick attacker from from Bahia capable of working up top or along the wings who’s said to have cost around $6 million.
Orlando are also said to be closing in on veteran free-agent goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau – with Dayne St. Clair off to Miami, imagine Canada’s World Cup-year starting GK competition stirred into the Florida Derby – and reportedly could soon move along winger Nicolás Rodríguez to Atlético Nacional. That would free up a U22 Initiative slot, which might help reward homegrown phenom Alex Freeman with a new contract, and a Muriel exit would open up a Designated Player spot for further renewal.
Suffice it to say, general manager and sporting director Ricardo Moreira has been busy!
MLS Cup 2024 glory → 2025’s nightmarish absurdity → return to promised land in ‘26
That’s more or less the desired diagram for the LA Galaxy. Can Riqui Puig’s surgically repaired knee really spell the difference between the bottom of the Western Conference heap and its top, though? The Gs just made moves that suggest they understand a sturdier spine is required to regain legit-contender status, acquiring versatile free agent Justin Haak and swinging a Best XI-caliber center back from Philadelphia in Jakob Glesnes. Clever.
A dozen miles up the 110, El Tráfico rivals LAFC are doing work too, sending Nashville a cool $1 million in General Allocation Money for winger Jacob Shaffelburg. The latest addition to the Angelenos’ Canadian contingent offers a potent dose of pace and directness in support of Son Heung-Min and Denis Bouanga, though we’re curious to see where in the lineup the lefty Nova Scotian actually turns out to be most useful to new head coach Marc Dos Santos.
Last winter, Austin made headlines with massive spending on big-ticket buys from abroad, repeatedly breaking the club transfer record on Myrto Uzuni and Brandon Vazquez following their summer 2024 splash for Osman Bukari. You could argue the reported $30 million or so spent helped them return to the playoffs, though the pieces plainly didn’t mesh.
We suspect it’s no coincidence that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell has lately focused on more pragmatic moves, convincing free-agent defender Jon Bell to leave Seattle for Central Texas and inking trades with Vancouver and Minnesota for Jayden Nelson and Joseph Rosales, respectively.
That’s the sort of activity by which perennial contenders flesh out their rosters and set up Designated Players for success. With Bukari shipped off to Polish outfit Widzew Łódź, Austin's next DP might be arriving soon, and he might just be surrounded by a more functional supporting cast.
MLS has long been known as a ‘copycat league,’ where good ideas tend to get cribbed and spread elsewhere with speed. Since San Diego FC got so much right in their surprisingly successful debut season, it serves to reason that others would take a few notes from Los Niños’ expansion blueprint.
Like, say, the New England Revolution.
In Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year finalist Mikey Varas, San Diego hired a US youth national team coach with no track record of running an MLS first team; the Revs chose a comparable USYNT alum in Marko Mitrović.
San Diego made hay with their accumulation of current and former USYNT prospects like Luca Bombino, CJ dos Santos and Oscar Verhoeven; the Revs’ first Mitrović-era acquisitions are Brooklyn Raines and Ethan Kohler, high-upside youngsters with firsthand experience of working under Mitrović at the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
New England’s got plenty of veteran talent like Carles Gil and Leo Campana in the cupboard, yet we’re curious to see whether they tack younger in the coming weeks.
Charlotte add de la Torre
Hungry for a platform to clamber into the United States’ 2026 FIFA World Cup squad, it didn’t take midfielder Luca de la Torre long to find a new MLS home after San Diego elected not to bring him back to his hometown following a 2025 loan spell.
Charlotte FC quickly stepped up to seal a permanent deal with LaLiga's Celta de Vigo for de la Torre, whose composed ball progression may be just what The Crown needs to add another gear to their game model.
Argentines in Atlanta
Tata Martino called in a couple of fellow Newell’s Old Boys products as he wades into his second stint as Atlanta United head coach.
The Five Stripes thumped down a reported $5 million to pry Argentine defender Tomás Jacob away from LIGA MX side Necaxa in a U22 Initiative transaction, and signed Lucas Hoyos as mentorship and competition for rising goalkeeper Jayden Hibbert.
D.C. stay busy
Should MLS clubs be scouting Japan more heavily? D.C. United and their coach, former Kashima Antlers boss René Weiler, may reckon so.
A few days after addressing their goalkeeping needs with the capture of veteran Sean Johnson, the Black-and-Red made an interesting move for attack-minded left back Keisuke Kurokawa of Gamba Osaka.
D.C. have also racked up flight miles to Romania, it seems, as they’re reputed to be nearly done with a record-setting DP deal for 23-year-old CFR Cluj striker Louis Munteanu.
Change in Minnesota
Minnesota United bid adieu to a raft of starting-caliber talent in St. Clair, Lod, Rosales and Hassani Dotson over the past few weeks, and swiftly responded with a couple of pragmatic replacements, bringing in goalkeeper Drake Callender from Charlotte and taking a flyer on creative Argentine Tomás Chancalay after his Revs days.
Suddenly, though, there’s a new Loons plotline to track: Swirling speculation about coach Eric Ramsay as a possible successor to Liam Rosenior at France’s Strasbourg, should the Englishman take the reins at the Ligue 1 side’s sibling club Chelsea FC.
