Do you hear that? Yeah, that’s the sound of checks hitting bank accounts all over the world.
It’s transfer season, folks, which means MLS teams are out here making moves and putting pen to paper left and right.
Austin FC spending a reported eight figures on Brandon Vazquez (and maybe moving Sebastián Driussi, too)? Color me intrigued. FC Cincinnati breaking MLS’s incoming transfer fee record to sign Kévin Denkey from Belgium? You, my Ohio-based friends, have my attention. The Seattle Sounders reportedly adding even more talent to a stacked squad in Jesús Ferreira? Toronto FC potentially starting a new era? Oh boy, this is getting good.
Even beyond those honorable mentions, there are a slew of squads worth watching from this point forward in the offseason. Here are five teams with the most potential to make waves this winter.
Tell me, Atlanta United fans, has coming in first on all of these off-season primers gotten tiresome yet? I certainly hope not, because until Chris Henderson puts pen to paper on a couple of Designated Players, Atlanta are still the club to watch this winter.
Nobody in MLS sets their team up for success like Arthur Blank, who’s never been afraid to splash the cash on big-money transfers. That fact, combined with the Five Stripes’ two open DP spots, two open U22 Initiative spots, a stash of allocation money and their newly formed front office, paints quite the high-potential picture down in Georgia.
Atlanta United president and CEO Garth Lagerwey has already publicly discussed the club’s hopes to sign “a striker to match with [Alexey] Miranchuk.” If they find a do-it-all No. 9 type and continue to improve the squad on the wings and through the spine, Atlanta will look like a team transformed come the regular season.
If Atlanta United are 1A in this conversation, Chicago Fire FC are 1B.
While Chicago haven't dropped big-money transfer fees like Atlanta have in the past, owner Joe Mansueto doesn’t shy away from making huge moves. Take Hugo Cuypers, who arrived last winter, as an example. The DP striker signed from Gent for a club-record reported $12 million fee. That’s right, y’all, we’re talking about serious money here.
Like Atlanta United, the Chicago Fire have two open DP spots to play with this offseason – assuming they opt for the three DP/three U22 Initiative player model.
The attack has already gotten a boost via Philip Zinckernagel, a 30-year-old Danish winger who arrives from Club Brugge and will be a TAM player, according to director of football and head coach Gregg Berhalter. Depending on how exactly Berhalter wants to set up his team, it’s easy to picture the Fire adding a DP No. 10 and a DP winger opposite Zinckernagel in a 4-2-3-1. Alternatively, if Berhalter wants to use more of a 4-3-3 shape without a lone attacking midfielder, the Fire could opt to add a DP winger and a DP central midfielder now that Gastón Giménez has left the club.
Opportunity abounds in the Windy City.
Day by day, San Diego FC get closer to making their debut in MLS – and day by day, they get closer to having a full roster ahead of that debut.
Chucky Lozano is the standout star on the left wing. Now, according to Tom Bogert, it sounds like Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukrainian national team winger Oleksandr Zubkov could be poised to set up opposite Lozano. The 28-year-old has impressed in the top division of his native country and has 3,000 minutes to his name across the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League. Even if it’s not Zubkov, you can bet SDFC will find themselves another high-powered attacker to help spearhead coach Mikey Varas’ possession-oriented game model.
Elsewhere, San Diego still have starting fullback spots to fill and work to do in central midfield. Their offseason is far from over.
What do you do when somebody hands you a huge check in exchange for one of your players? If you’re Orlando City in the case of Facundo Torres, you say “thank you very much” and head right back into the transfer market to find yourself a ceiling-raising star.
With Torres’ move to Brazilian Série A club Palmeiras made official last month, the Lions generated a fee that could, according to reports, rise to $14 million. That is quite the stash Luiz Muzzi, Orlando's EVP of soccer operations and general manager, and the rest of the front office can use to set up the team for another trophy run in 2025.
After making it to the Eastern Conference Final this past season, (granted, they were handed a gift when the top three seeds in the East fell in Round One), there’s little doubt Orlando City have their eyes on an even greater goal this year. If they can find a big-time star to act as the cherry on top of an otherwise solid squad, they could just achieve that goal.
With Martin Ojeda’s ability to play as a No. 10 or as a winger for Oscar Pareja, Orlando have flexibility in how they want to reinvest a big chunk of the Torres sale. Flexibility combined with real resources means you officially have my attention, Orlando.
Wildcard, baby!
If anyone outside of a very, very select group of individuals tells you they know exactly what Inter Miami are going to do this offseason, well, I just so happen to have a bridge to sell you.
Sure, there’s an obvious need at center back. We all saw in last year’s playoffs that Tomás Avilés hasn’t developed into the star young center back Inter Miami surely would’ve hoped – not yet, anyway. There’s room to improve in the middle of the backline, then.
But how will Inter Miami go about filling the ground-covering, box-crashing void left by Diego Gómez’s lucrative sale to Brighton in the Premier League? Is Fafà Picault the answer, or do Inter Miami have additional plans? Will Julian Gressel still be wearing pink in 2025 after he wasn’t in Tata Martino’s postseason plans? And the question that has the most eyeballs on it at all times: will another famous superstar join up in South Beach?
Inter Miami are a sort of mystery box this winter, one I can’t wait to crack open.
