The MLS Secondary Transfer Window opens on July 24, which is… well, it’s late. Later than we’re used to, anyway, which means fewer regular season games left by the time reinforcements can actually get on the field.
The league shifted the window back to better align with the closing of the major European windows (most shut on Sept. 1; Türkiye always stay open later, and their teams get good deals because of it), though MLS’s window still closes on Aug. 21 – about a week and a half before the big boys stop shopping.
Will that matter in practice? We’ll see. But a few teams clearly didn’t want to wait around to find out; there was a real push this spring to get deals done before the window even opened. Still, a handful of clubs have left themselves some room to maneuver. Summer’s not dead yet.
Now that we’ve set the table, let’s dive into what Eastern Conference teams need most. (If you're looking for the Western Conference, that’ll be tomorrow.)
NOTE: Roster compliance info, including which roster model teams selected, available premium slots and General Allocation Money (GAM) availability, is based on the latest league release from May 8. Things may have shifted slightly since then, but it’s the cleanest snapshot we’ve got.
Let’s get to it.
- Biggest Need: Future building blocks
- Roster Model: They’re committed to the Designated Player Model (three DPs, three U22s) unless there's a buyout.
- Premium Slots Available: All three U22 slots are open.
Alexey Miranchuk hasn’t worked. Miguel Almirón hasn’t worked. Stian Gregersen hasn’t worked.
Saba Lobjanidze. Bartosz Slisz. Luis Abram. Mateusz Klich. Derrick Williams. Tristan Muyumba. Josh Cohen. Stop me when I get to the name of a player who you’re fairly certain will still be around when Atlanta are finally good again. Should I include Emmanuel Latte Lath? How certain are we on that one?
They loaned out Edwin Mosquera last week, which opens a U22 slot. That’s good. They’ve also slowly gotten a liiiiiiittle bit of production out of their homegrowns (shoutout Will Reilly!), which is also good, and more of a cultural thing than a transfer window thing. We have enough data now to know healthy MLS teams use that pipeline much more than Atlanta traditionally have, and if what comes out of this year is a club-wide understanding that they have to be more ambitious with how they use their player pathway, that's a meaningful silver lining to what's otherwise been a disappointing year.
Anyway, they’ve got three open U22 slots now and shouldn’t be in a rush to use them. The rest of this year is about figuring out exit strategies for some of the big-money players, figuring out playing time and potential for some of the down-roster players, and figuring out how to improve the talent ID and integration processes so this five-year malaise finally comes to a halt.
- Biggest Need: Center forward depth
- Roster Model: U22 Initiative Model
- Premium Slots Available: They have one open U22 slot.
The sale of Patrick Agyemang for a reported $8 million plus incentives is a feather in the team’s cap. Now I’m going to borrow from my buddy Calen Carr, who was on the mic last weekend and saw Idan Toklomati up close:
Charlotte will certainly need to add up top during this upcoming window, and I’m sure there will be some pressure to “go big.” That strategy hasn’t really worked up until this point for them. If there’s anything for the front office to take away from Agyemang this week (beyond the fee that Tommy Scoops is reporting), it's that it’s best to recognize early when the “next best thing” might already be on your doorstep.
They already used a premium roster slot on Toklomati, and he’s lived up to it. They should lean into that and add a veteran target man to bring off the bench in late-game, Tactics Free Zone™ situations.
If they're desperate to fill that open U22 slot this summer, though... maybe another box-to-box midfielder?
- Biggest Need: Defensive midfield
- Roster Model: Currently in the U22 Initiative Model, but can switch to the DP model.
- Premium Slots Available: One open DP slot or U22 slot, depending on their approach.
The Fire have been one of the best attacking teams in the league this season, and one of the worst defensive teams. There are several reasons for this – both fullbacks take risks pushing up; there’s been a constant stream of right center back (the Spinal Tap drummers of this MLS season) partners for Jack Elliott; and the goalkeeping has been up-and-down.
The clearest one, from what I’ve seen, has been the struggles at d-mid. That's borderline shocking, because I thought that’d be a position of strength this season.
It hasn’t been. Kellyn Acosta has played fewer than 600 minutes, and Rominigue Kouamé's gotten about half of that. They reportedly spent $4 million on U22 signing Djé D'Avilla, but the Ivorian has looked overwhelmed and off the pace most of the time he’s been out there.
That’s left the job mostly to Mauricio Pineda, who’s a fine rotation player, but who’s never become more than that.
They’ve already spent so much on this spot, so I understand it’s tough to throw more resources at it. But it remains a glaring need. Bigger, I’d say, than right center back.
And yes, they have a DP slot to potentially use. Everyone expects them to go big, but to me, they need "big" – Kevin De Bruyne-style "big" – far less than they need pitch control, orchestration and a high-end shield for the backline.
Note that this changes if they sell homegrown attacker Brian Gutiérrez this summer. Do that and their needs shift pretty hard toward the attack.
- Biggest Need: Central midfield
- Roster Model: They’re locked into the U22 model because they’ve spent all their GAM.
- Premium Slots Available: They’ve still got two U22 slots open, even after the Echenique deal.
At the start of the year, if you’d told me Cruz Azul were trying to buy Luca Orellano mid-season and Cincy should strongly consider selling, I’d have laughed at you.
But things have largely not been good for the Argentine attacker this year, to the point where it’s unclear what his best spot is in Pat Noonan’s set-up, which is understandably built around Evander and Kévin Denkey. Cincy first tried Orellano up top next to Denkey, then underneath next to Evander. Neither worked. Since then, he's been at both right and left wingback, and while he's had his moments, he hasn't looked the consistent match-winner we all thought he'd be. I'm not going to say he's expendable, but if this price is right...
Cincy also already went out and got Venezuelan Ender Echenique on a U22 deal, and Echenique has a similar profile to Orellano, so maybe they’re preparing for this exact move. If they are – and if Echenique can do some of the heavy lifting in attack that Orellano hasn’t really managed to this season – the Garys will suddenly have some roster flexibility and a bit of GAM.
If that happens, getting another reliable ball-progressor into central midfield would be the move. But we’re talking about a lot of dominoes needing to fall to get to that point. My guess is Cincy will be the same team at the end of the window that they were at the start (which, as their 3-0 win over Miami showed, is pretty good!).
- Biggest Need: Best XI-caliber match-winner
- Roster Model: DP model
- Premium Slots Available: They can open up a DP slot by paying down Darlington Nagbe’s cap hit. And they still have an open U22 slot despite bringing in Ibrahim Aliyu earlier this year and Hugo Picard earlier this week.
I still think Dániel Gazdag will come around – he’s actually played pretty well the past few weeks, even if he’s forgotten where the goal is.
Still, though, even the very best version of Gazdag is not enough. As mentioned above, they can open up another DP slot by buying down Nagbe, and that’s what they need to do. And then when it's open... go out and find that next Cucho Hernández. Or Stern John.
- Biggest Need: A vision
- Roster Model: They announced, earlier this year, that they were using the DP model. This was despite Christian Benteke being the only DP on the roster, though they still have to use a DP slot on Mateusz Klich, who’s playing this season in Atlanta. Yes, it's confusing.
- Premium Slots Available: So… they’ve got one DP slot and one U22 slot, then.
This team’s bounced between coaches with competing styles year after year since Ben Olsen was shown the door at the start of the decade, and none of it has worked for more than a brief spell.
Along the way, they’ve hit big on one DP (Benteke is still awesome) and not much else. For a while they were developing and selling their academy kids – Chris Durkin, Kevin Paredes, Griffin Yow, Moses Nyeman, Ted Ku-DiPietro and Matai Akinmboni – but now that well’s run dry, so their typical XI tends to feature underperforming imports, journeymen veterans and Benteke (and Aaron Herrera, too – he’s still very good).
Now they’ve got another new coach on the way in René Weiler, prompting another reboot, and it’s not entirely clear where any of this is going.
- Biggest Need: Center forward, center back
- Roster Model: DP Model
- Premium Slots Available: None!
It looks like the Rodrigo De Paul move will happen, and that’s cool – he’s a good player, and I like how MLS teams are in the business of getting good players. The mechanism (loan with a significant purchase clause, while his contract with Atlético Madrid was actually extended a year to summer 2027) they’ve used to get him in the door is ingenious and, uh, I’d imagine there are 29 CSOs elsewhere in MLS who have taken note of it.
Here's how the deal, which isn’t yet confirmed, was reported by Tom Bogert for GiveMeSport:
The deal is structured that Miami will be able to add De Paul without using a Designated Player spot for the rest of 2025, which is crucial because the club don't have an open spot. Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba occupy their three spots.
For what it’s worth, I absolutely would not have had central midfield as the biggest need for this team heading into the window. For me, it would’ve been:
- Center forward (Luis Suárez looks cooked, and they clearly don’t trust Allen Obando)
- Center back (The group they’ve got does not inspire a ton of confidence)
But still, De Paul is great and he’s in his prime. He should help.
- Biggest Need: Youth development
- Roster Model: U22 Model
- Premium Slots Available: They’ve got one open DP slot and, once the George Campbell sale goes through, at least one U22 slot. But nobody’s expecting Montréal to go big on new additions this summer.
They’ve got to keep developing those kids. We’ve seen, from the Nathan Saliba sale and the reported Campbell departure, that it can work monetarily. What we’ve seen elsewhere – notably with Philadelphia, but also, at times from Dallas and RSL – is that it can work in the standings, too. Nothing suggests MLS teams can’t tilt heavy in terms of player development and still be an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs side every year (and, in some years, actually threaten to win a trophy or two).
Montréal haven’t gotten that part down just yet, save for a brief spell under Wilfried Nancy. They’re back to square one now and need to start the building process all over again.
- Biggest Need: Attacking reinforcements
- Roster Model: DP Model
- Premium Slots Available: They have an open U22 slot. It wouldn’t entirely shock me if they filled it this summer, though I feel like it’s more likely to be a long-term play than an immediate answer.
They’ve got to find a third goalscorer, a winger who can dive inside and be more goal-dangerous than Alex Muyl and Ahmed Qasem have managed (three goals between them in nearly 3,000 minutes this season).
The problem is they don’t have a ton of room to do it with: they’re hard up against the cap, and don’t have much GAM to throw around.
The good news is Tyler Boyd is expected to return sometime in the next month or two, and he’s got the profile of a guy who will fit well into B.J. Callaghan’s system. So maybe all they really need is patience.
- Biggest Need: Center forward, central midfield
- Roster Model: U22 Model
- Premium Slots Available: Two open U22 slots.
The Revs pulled off a complete roster overhaul between last summer’s window and this past winter. The only regulars from early 2024 still in significant roles are Carles Gil, Matt Polster and Brandon Bye. Everything else has changed.
So I don’t think they'll do much this window to keep adding pieces, when they’ve already done so much in the past two. But they need a backup target man (Leo Campana is injury-prone) and a little more center-mid depth wouldn’t hurt. So maybe there are some moves incoming.
- Biggest Need: U22 development
- Roster Model: U22 Model
- Premium Slots Available: Just one open U22 slot, though it needs to be said that this team is sitting on a Smaug-sized hoard of GAM. Nobody is better-positioned to make an intra-league move if something catches their fancy.
NYCFC badly need one of the U22s they already have rostered and available – Julián Fernández and Agustín Ojeda – to hit. I really thought one of them would this season (I predicted, back in February, that Ojeda would be the Young Player of the Year… oops).
I don’t think they'll recruit over those guys this summer. In the meantime, they've already addressed their actual biggest need with the addition of DP No. 10 Nicolás Fernández Mercau.
If the Argentine delivers as advertised, the Pigeons could be about to make a big push down the stretch, even if they make no other additions.
- Biggest Need: Central midfield
- Roster Model: DP Model
- Premium Slots Available: They’ve got one open DP slot and that’s it.
The Timo Werner reports, which are coming from both sides of the pond, are legit. It’s just a matter of whether or not the money is right. If it is, they’ll get the deal across the finish line and make the team’s biggest signing since Thierry Henry almost 15 years ago. If not, then… they won’t.
Now, is a player like Werner really the team’s biggest need? I think you could argue he’s not, and if they’re going to evolve fully from the Energy Drink Soccer model we’ve all become so familiar with over the past decade into the more modern, ball-dominant style that Sandro Schwarz is pushing towards, they need a central midfield orchestrator who can conduct games with the ball on his foot. Neither Daniel Edelman nor Peter Stroud is that guy, nor is Ronald Donkor, nor was the since-departed Felipe Carballo.
The good news is they might be getting that too, in the form of Swedish midfielder Gustav Berggren. There’s no guarantee he’ll be what they need, but he’s in his prime, fits the profile and won't take up that DP slot.
Werner would, and the German star would represent the increased ambition fans have been dying to see.
- Biggest Need: Left wing
- Roster Model: DP Model
- Premium Slots Available: They’ve got one open U22 slot. Bear in mind they’ve already got one U22 winger in Nicolás Rodríguez, so it might be foolhardy to suggest they should bring in another, but…
They’ve got to figure out how to add some sort of goal threat from left wing. I know Oscar Pareja’s forced Martín Ojeda into that role a bit (Ojeda’s a 10, but he naturally drifts out wide to the left), especially as he’s been trying to play with two up front.
It hasn’t worked, though. Luis Muriel doesn’t have the gas in the tank to be a full-time starter in this league – his production has cratered over the past two months, which means two up top doesn’t work. That means Ojeda’s playing centrally, and that means they need goalscoring from the left.
Iván Angulo has zero goals all year. So… yeah. That’s the spot.
Also, there are whispers of legit interest in Muriel from some of the big Colombian teams. A move home would make more sense to me if he wasn't on such massive wages.
- Biggest Need: Left-sided playmaker
- Roster Model: They started the year in the DP Model, but have been down to two DPs since selling Dániel Gazdag to the Crew.
- Premium Slots Available: They’ve either got one DP and one U22 slot available or two U22 slots available, depending on which model they choose for the rest of the year.
I know the old Energy Drink Soccer maxim is “the press is the best playmaker,” and sometimes that’s true.
Sometimes, though, it isn’t. Like the playoffs. Every single year.
The Union have their two DP forwards (though Mikael Uhre is entering the final half-season of his deal, so they might not have him long), and they’ve made some shrewd additions in central midfield and along the backline. They’ve also done good work developing guys like Quinn Sullivan this season, and Sullivan is a very good chance creator in transition. He struggles somewhat when the game’s not wild and open like that, though.
And in the playoffs, the Union will face teams that 1) are better equipped to handle the press and not let it become a playmaker; and 2) won't let the Union go full chaos-ball.
Which means they do, in fact, need a real playmaker coming in off that left side.
- Biggest Need: Foundational pieces
- Roster Model: U22 Model
- Premium Slots Available: They’ve got two open DP slots since buying out the Italians, though they could flex Richie Laryea into one of them. They’ve also got three (or four, depending upon the status of Cassius Mailula) open U22 slots.
I don’t think they need to go out guns blazing in trying to replace Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi – they’ve just got to start rebuilding their talent base from the ground up. That means smart, targeted signings via every roster mechanism they can get their hands on, from the premium roster slots, to TAM signings, to scouting the SuperDraft, to seeing if there are intra-league trades they can pull off, and then, especially, to the academy.
They’ve finally made some progress on that this year, with DeAndre Kerr, Kobe Franklin and Lazar Stefanović getting regular minutes. It’s a positive step towards what will hopefully become a more comprehensive cultural overhaul.
Ok, I’ve skated out beyond the purview of this column, so let me reel it back in a bit here: make the Theo Corbeanu loan deal permanent. He’s been pretty decent and is improving as he gets more minutes. Keeping him around would be a good start.
