Like Alberta clippers scudding across the Great Plains, the winter transactions just keep rolling in across MLS.
The trades, transfers and signings – and associated rumors and reports that inevitably swirl around them – can be dizzying to track. So we’re bottom-lining the week’s activity for you every Friday with a rundown of the major marketplace moves.
We’ll start with some head-turning activity in a locale not necessarily known for such in recent years.
Bruce Arena has shifted his San Jose Earthquakes rebuilding project into high gear.
First the veteran coach and GM completed a trade with Real Salt Lake for Cristian “Chicho” Arango – the star Colombian striker who won MLS Cup 2022 with LAFC and was both an MLS MVP and Golden Boot contender for the first half of last year – in exchange for $1.4 million in General Allocation Money (GAM) across the next two seasons and a 2026 international roster spot. Turns out Chicho wanted a fresh start after what was ultimately a tumultuous 2024 in Utah, and RSL concurred.
Two days later the Quakes signed free-agent frontrunner Josef Martínez, for a one-two punch of proven South American scoring nous that instantly makes last year’s Wooden Spoon winners a whole lot more interesting. Will they start together in a two-forward setup? Compete for the No. 9 job? Maybe a little bit of both?
"We came here for a new project, we came here to win, we came here to change the minds of the guys who were here last year," Martínez said as they were introduced to media on Wednesday, underlining the culture shift Arena seeks to speed along by the Bay.
MLS’s participation, and reputation, in the global transfer market continues to blossom. On Thursday Houston Dynamo FC set a new club record for outbound transfers with the sale of midfield engine Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla to Liga MX side Pumas UNAM.
The reported $3.5 million fee underlines the 26-year-old Panamanian’s excellence over the past four seasons, as he helped La Naranja win the 2023 US Open Cup and make a deep run in that year’s Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, also winning the 2023-24 Concacaf Player of the Year award.
As Soccer America notes, Mexican clubs have now spent in the neighborhood of $10 million on MLS talent in this window.
It’s good business for the Dynamo, and necessary given that data published last month showed them to possess the league’s lowest amount of available GAM. Yet it poses further questions about Houston’s identity and outlook for ‘25 in the wake of Designated Player Héctor Herrera’s departure.
The New York Red Bulls also completed a lucrative transfer on Thursday, sending homegrown left back John Tolkin to Bundesliga outfit Holstein Kiel for a reported $3 million outlay, plus a percentage of future sales. It’s the biggest fee the freshly-promoted club have ever paid, which suggests Tolkin will be asked to contribute sooner than later as Die Störche (the Storks) aim to stave off relegation and survive their first top-flight campaign in the modern era.
After contributing at a level beyond his years at RBNY, earning a handful of US men’s national team caps and representing the country at the 2024 Summer Olympics, it’s a logical, well-earned new adventure for Tolkin, one of MLS’s truly unique characters.
It’s a testament to the rapid growth and evolution of MLS transfer business: Two central defenders with World Cup experience arrived from prominent European locales this week, and both flew well under the radar amid chatter around Neymar, Wilfried Zaha, Luca de la Torre and the moves discussed further up on this list.
First the LA Galaxy signed Mathias “Zanka” Jørgensen from Belgian heavyweights Anderlecht, a commanding Danish international of Gambian heritage with more than 500 career club matches across the English Premier League, Bundesliga, Eredivisie and other top Euro leagues.
Though it remains to be seen whether out-of-contract captain Maya Yoshida will re-sign with the freshly-crowned MLS Cup champions, Zanka figures to play an important role in their title defense.
And D.C. United swung a deal for 26-year-old Australian international Kye Rowles from Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian, the latest in a flurry of offseason defensive acquisitions for a Black-and-Red squad that leaked 70 goals last year, third-worst in MLS. With The Washington Post reporting that United paid around three-quarters of a million dollars to Hearts, Rowles looks like a foundational piece in coach Troy Lesesne’s efforts to steer D.C. into the Eastern Conference reckoning.
The term ‘role player’ is all too often perceived as a slight. Yet for a team graced with Leo Messi, Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, the contributions of less prominent faces with younger legs have been absolutely essential in capturing two trophies in the past two seasons, the likes of Yannick Bright, Robert Taylor and Leo Afonso popping up at vital moments to share the burden of responsibility.
So smart observers will not overlook the moves the Herons made this week, signing Venezuelan international midfielder Telasco Segovia, Argentine attacker Tadeo Allende, versatile defender Gonzalo Luján – who played for IMCF coach Javier Mascherano on Argentina’s Olympic side last summer – and assuring themselves of ample goalkeeping depth with the re-signing of veteran Óscar Ustari and a loan move for Rocco Ríos Novo, a familiar name to U.S. audiences via prior stints at Atlanta United and Phoenix Rising.
With Miami facing one of the busiest seasons in MLS history thanks to Concacaf Champions Cup and Club World Cup participation, in addition to the usual domestic competitions, depth will be vital, and they did real work on that front this week.
