Major League Soccer's winter market is about to kick off.
Yes, the Primary Transfer Window doesn’t open until next month, but the league’s steadily growing free agency process officially gets underway on Thursday afternoon. It’s a key source of MLS-proven talent and experience, and a mechanism players worked hard for many years to attain, first becoming a reality in 2015.
Where will the biggest names choose to sign? Who could help your team in 2025? Here are a few notable names to watch in the coming days and weeks.
Note: We’re setting aside a couple of prominent standouts who are reportedly very close to reaching agreements that will take them off the market, most prominent being Aaron Long, who is reportedly set to sign a new deal to remain at LAFC.
- 60 goals, 18 assists in 198 career regular-season appearances
As a seven-figure earner on a Wooden Spoon-winning side, Jebo is an unsurprising early casualty of the San Jose Earthquakes’ winter rebuild. Yet he should not lack options on the open market considering his age (still just 27), experience, personality and well-rounded skill set.
Ebobisse is a pacey, modern No. 9 who can poach, press, run the channels and link play. Even in a down 2024, he still hit 25 key passes, more than the likes of Brian White, Mikael Uhre and Patrick Agyemang, and he doesn’t shirk hard work on the defensive side of the ball.
- 84 key passes in 2024, 2500+ minutes played for four years running
We almost dropped the durable, does-it-all Slovakian center mid in the same category as Long, but kept him in because it seems his prospects of renewal with the Seattle Sounders aren’t quite as advanced. He’d fetch plenty of interest should talks break down, considering he just logged the best season of his eight-year MLS career: 10 goals, 16 assists, 88% completion rate on his 1165 passes, and far and away Seattle's top chance creator.
“Albert had a great year; highly interested in bringing him back, he knows that. We've had good conversations with Albert and we anticipate a good resolution,” said Sounders general manager Craig Waibel this week. “But … it's not done until it's done. We’re still working on some details on that one.”
- 2.31 goals added in 2024; 19,107 career MLS regular-season minutes played
One of the all-time SuperDraft Cinderella stories – he was a fourth-round pick in 2017, and yeah, they don’t even do fourth rounds anymore – Elliott has already built an incredible MLS career, a foundational piece in Philadelphia’s rise from also-rans to consistent contenders. His departure from the Union is an understandable move as that group’s cycle came to a close, and we reckon he’s still got plenty in the tank.
The English defender eats up minutes by the thousand and even in a down year, ranked tops among MLS center backs in goals added, a statistic that tracks on-the-ball action during a game and measures how each action by each player changes the team's probability of scoring or conceding a goal during that sequence of play. A change might just do him good.
- 2021 MLS All-Star; 88th percentile in tackles in 2024
The Colombian center back is reportedly still in negotiations with LAFC after the expiration of his previous contract, and we imagine his agent is fielding inquiries from elsewhere, too, particularly teams with a front-foot approach that incentivizes an aggressive mentality in central defense.
A linchpin of the Angelenos’ 2022 MLS Cup-Supporters’ Shield double, Murillo is a dominant defensive presence who can also pick out a pass, and those still don’t grow on trees. Despite some injury issues this year, it’s not hard to envision him returning to form in 2025.
- 60 goals, 40 assists, 258 key passes in 196 career MLS regular-season appearances
A few years ago, the left-footed Scot was so devastatingly effective one-on-one that this correspondent dedicated a feature story to “the Johnny Russell zone,” the area along the right channel where he’d skin defenders with a variety of moves to create his own shot or get to the byline for dangerous cutbacks.
That was during a 2021 campaign in which he tabbed 15g/8a for Sporting KC, and while he probably won’t get back to that level of productivity at age 34, he can undoubtedly contribute at a trophy-chasing club in need of depth and variety along the wings. Kansas City’s departing captain still puts in the defensive work, too, and could evolve into a super-sub for the right contender.
- 0.66 npxG + xAG per 90 in 2024
The above statline, courtesy of FBref, might look like a mouthful for the uninitiated, but hang in there. That’s short for Non-penalty Expected Goals + Expected Assisted Goals per 90 minutes, and Picault’s number ranks in the 96th percentile among MLS attackers this year.
In layperson’s terms, that means the Haiti international was a handful and then some for Vancouver’s front line, whether working in wide areas or through the middle – much as he was for Nashville in 2023. At age 33 he remains speedy, physical and good in the air, and is well-versed in Concacaf competition and MLS life on both sides of the US-Canada border.
- Led MTL in scoring (11g/3a) in less than half of available minutes played in 2024
This year the Venezuelan goal king reminded us that he’s still got something to offer at age 31, helping a young CF Montréal squad surge into the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs with some vintage penalty-box prowling. One CFM observer called him “the only player that could be considered a game changer” for the Quebecois, whose fans sound generally nonplussed at his ‘24 option being declined.
For all the talk of his best being behind him, FBref data shows that he remains elite among MLS strikers in pass completion, non-penalty goals, non-penalty expected goals, npxG + xAG and more. Sure, Josef tends to be moody, and can be just as explosive in the locker room as on the pitch. But deploy him correctly in a team with the right culture, and he’ll bag you goals and create chances.
- Missed all but the final weeks of the ‘24 season due to a torn ACL
The above injury, combined with a reportedly hefty pay raise in his 2025 contract option, made it no great surprise that Toronto FC declined it. But the FC Dallas academy product is still just 25 years old and showed the ability to patrol the engine room in his first five MLS seasons – he’d earned that contract clause at FCD, signing a long-term renewal two and a half years ago.
We’re applying the Freddy Adu Memorial “Never Put a Period Where God Put a Comma” designation to Servania here; the former US youth international is due for a resurgence and could provide real value for his next club.
- Averaged 2,494 minutes played per season over the past six years
Here’s another experienced center mid (more than 200 MLS matches played and still only 27) and capped international (16 US appearances) who’s been grinding for a mostly poor team for several years. Yueill stands to benefit from new surroundings, with more talent around him that can elevate his positive qualities and better manage his shortcomings.
A regista-type holding midfielder, Yueill can pick a pass, particularly those useful big switches of play, and would be well-suited to a double pivot alongside a hard-tackling destroyer type. Keep a close eye on the Chicago Fire, whose new coach and CSO Gregg Berhalter knows him well from USMNT duty.
- Ranked second in key passes for MTL in 2024
Rangy left-footers who can deliver quality service and work as left back or left wingback are not easy to find in MLS. Add in his Canadian citizenship and Edwards becomes an alluring option for a number of different sides. If he can shore up his occasional tendency for defensive breakdowns, he can certainly become a quality regular somewhere around the league.
