Last season, just about every key player on the U.S. men’s national team switched club teams.
We had Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah heading to AC Milan. Weston McKennie re-joined Juventus, where he was joined by Timothy Weah. Meanwhile, Tyler Adams jumped ship from relegated Leeds to join Bournemouth, and Brenden Aaronson did the same but to Union Berlin. PSV brought over three Americans: Ricardo Pepi from Augsburg, Malik Tillman from Bayern Munich, and Sergiño Dest from Barcelona.
Matt Turner left Arsenal to become the presumed starting goalkeeper with Nottingham Forest, and Folarin Balogun left the Gunners to become the starting center forward with Monaco. Haji Wright left Turkey for Coventry City in the English Championship. That was all over the summer, and then in January, Johnny Cardoso departed from Internacional in Brazil to join Real Betis, where he almost immediately became a starter at the base of midfield.
Unsurprisingly, then, this hasn’t been the most active of summer transfer windows for the top tier of the American player pool, but plenty has still happened — and perhaps, not happened — that it’ll have repercussions for what the U.S. team looks like in a year from now and beyond.
So, let’s take stock of how the summer transfer window went for all the notable players in the USMNT pool. We’ll dole out grades projecting how good or bad these moves look for the players’ careers, and for their futures with the USMNT.
Nottingham Forest to Crystal Palace, loan
Grade: D+
What it means for the player: Another year of sitting on the bench, most likely. But given there was almost no conceivable path back into the starting 11 at Nottingham Forest, there’s at least a shot he eventually becomes the starter at Crystal Palace.
Dean Henderson, Turner’s competition at Palace, has been a below-average shot-stopper in each of his last three Premier League seasons, but he’s three years younger than Turner. So, all things being equal — Turner projects as a below-average shot-stopper himself at this point — Henderson will likely get the nod.
What it means for the USMNT: Eesh. We’re getting pretty close to the point where it just seems like Turner is the first-choice USMNT goalkeeper by default. At this point, there’s no way to know who will be starting in goal for the Americans at the World Cup in 2026.
Barcelona to PSV, free transfer
Grade: C+
What it means for the player: He was fantastic for PSV on loan last season — there weren’t many better fullbacks anywhere in the world who were not playing in one of Europe’s “Big Five” top leagues. But one wonders how much the torn ACL that Dest suffered at the end of the season played a role in this move to permanently stay in the Dutch Eredivisie.
Could Dest have made the jump back into a “Big Five” league without the associated injury risk? While the permanent move from Barca to PSV will likely require a sizable pay-cut, it does give Dest some stability while he’s hurt. Plus, PSV are more likely to give him an opportunity to play himself back into form than a new club would’ve.
What it means for the USMNT: At PSV, Dest isn’t really at risk of losing playing time. If he’s unable to work his way back into the team, it won’t be because of some front-office politics or managerial instability — it’ll just be because he hasn’t recovered from the torn ACL. That’s a much bigger concern for the USMNT than which team Dest is currently playing for.
Gio Reyna, 21, attacking midfielder
No transfer, return to Dortmund after loan
Grade: C
What it means for the player: On the one hand, he remains with Borussia Dortmund, the team that probably should’ve beaten Real Madrid and won the Champions League final just a few months ago. On the other hand, he remains with Borussia Dortmund, the team that loaned him to Nottingham Forest midway through last season and then reached the Champions League final without him.
Dortmund have spoken publicly about their desire to keep Reyna and find a role for him this season, but no one should take anything a club executive says at face-value — especially if he says it while the transfer window is still open. It’s been four years since Reyna played more than 650 minutes in a domestic season. Based on how poorly last season’s loan went, staying at Dortmund probably gives him his best shot of at least hitting that minimal minutes mark while playing in a top league.
What it means for the USMNT: The U.S. just needs him to play. This isn’t a Gareth-Bale-with-Wales situation — Reyna can’t struggle his way through the season again and then be expected to suddenly be a star when he puts on the red, white, and blue. Reyna is theoretically the team’s most creative player, and he created two chances at the Copa America. Two!
Bayern Munich to PSV, €12 million
Grade: B-
What it means for the player: A chance to show that last season’s loan wasn’t a fluke. In limited minutes last season, Tillman posted some truly bonkers numbers. He did just about every measurable thing that happens on a soccer field at an incredibly high level:
Assessing performance in the Dutch league is tricky, and its tactical environment tends to inflate the numbers of its attackers. Plus, PSV have a massive financial advantage over most of the rest of the league and were one of the most dominant teams in the history of the Eredivisie last season. Tillman only started 17 league games, and while he did play every minute of PSV’s knockout round tie against Borussia Dortmund, his performance in the Champions League was well below what he did in domestic play.
If Tillman can maintain his production in the Netherlands while earning a larger share of the minutes and if he can start to have an impact in the Champions League, plenty of richer clubs are going to come calling next summer.
What it means for the USMNT: “Playing Malik Tillman more often” seems like the biggest personnel shift that any new manager — including likely new USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino — could make from the Gregg Berhalter era of the U.S. team. A year of first-choice minutes and plenty of Champions League experience for a potential young star can only be a good thing.
Tim Ream, 36, center-back
Fulham to Charlotte FC, free transfer
Grade: A+
What it means for the player: An end to a long and impressive European career. Ream moved to Bolton when he was 23 and immediately started a bunch of games in the Premier League. But after their relegation, he spent six years in the Championship before yo-yoing back and forth to the Premier League with Fulham and then eventually establishing himself as an above-average Premier League center-back in his 30s.
Grading Ream’s decision here at all is pretty silly — he’s done more than enough to deserve to do whatever he wants as he winds down his career, including a move to Charlotte FC.
What it means for the USMNT: The likely end to the international career of the USMNT’s stalwart center-back of the past half-decade. Perhaps the biggest challenge for the next USMNT manager: figure out who’s going to take Tim Ream’s place.
Venezia to Lyon, €6 million
Grade: B
What it means for the player: While going from Serie A to Ligue 1 might seem like a step down, Venezia to Lyon is certainly a step up. Per Opta’s power rankings, the French side are the 62nd-best side in the world, while the newly promoted Italian club is all the way down in 155th.
Lyon are not Inter Milan, who tried to sign Tessmann earlier in the window. They can’t pay like Inter and they’re not going to be challenging for the Champions League like Inter. But Lyon present a clear path to playing time for Tessmann in a league that produces a seemingly never-ending stream of high-level holding midfielders. Should he establish himself as a first-choice player this season, he should not only become a regular part of the USMNT squad but a legitimate contender for a starting spot.
What it means for the USMNT: All good news, again. Venezia-to-Inter might’ve been a leap too far for Tessmann, but Lyon presents a path to playing time and improvement for another player in the holding midfield role. With both Johnny Cardoso and Tessmann in similar club situations, it seems likely that at least one of them will develop into a viable USMNT starter at the base of midfield.
Real Betis to Tottenham, future option
Grade: TBD
Why TBD? Cardoso presumably would still have to agree to a transfer were it to eventually happen. This is a future transfer that hasn’t happened yet, and we don’t know when it’s going to happen — if it happens.
What it means for the player: Who knows! I haven’t seen a deal like this before, and it looks like Tottenham secured the option as part of the negotiations in allowing midfielder Giovani Lo Celso move to Real Betis. Tottenham will have an option to acquire Cardoso in the future for a prearranged fee, and if they don’t exercise it, they’ll also earn a percentage of the fee from any move Cardoso makes elsewhere.
This greases the wheels for a turnkey move in the future, but one wonders if the sell-on fee would make a move to another non-Spurs more difficult. It’s, at least, a good sign for Cardoso’s potential that Tottenham see value in such an arrangement, and it gives him a pretty clear path to a massive payday that would come from moving to one of the richest clubs in the world.
What it means for the USMNT: While a move to Tottenham now carries the risk of lost playing time, Cardoso should get a full season of minutes for a top-half-of-the-table team in Spain. With Tyler Adams‘s health now officially a never-ending issue, Cardoso’s development into a top-level defensive midfielder would be huge for the USMNT.
Genk to Toulouse, €3 million
Grade: A-
What it means for the player: If Toulouse are signing you, then you’re doing something right. Although the Billy Beane group had to relinquish ownership control last season, the club is still being run by the data-fluent people they put in charge — most notably, former Liverpool sporting director Damien Commoli.
For McKenzie, it’s presumably a bump in pay and a bump in competition level. He’s immediately slotted into Toulouse’s starting 11, and at just 25, there’s still the potential for him to develop into a starting-level player for the USMNT. Top-tier center-backs grow on trees in Ligue 1, so it’s an ideal environment for a player at his position.
What it means for the USMNT: Again, nothing but good things. A fringe squad player just took a step up to a better team in a better league where he’s still expected to get a ton of playing time. The more of these moves that get stacked up, the more depth the team builds and the more times the dice gets rolled for an opportunity for someone to unexpectedly develop into a star.
Atlanta United to Chelsea, €10.1 million
Grade: B
What it means for the player: There are two ways we know that American soccer has officially made it.
The first: last winter Gio Reyna became a pawn in super-agent Jorge Mendes’s global game of influence-building. Every team that Reyna was linked to — Sevilla, Marseille, Wolverhampton, and ultimately Forest — had a direct connection to Mendes.
The second: Chelsea have selected another American to be a part of their portfolio-building strategy. It’s really hard to say that joining Chelsea is a good career move for anyone. They have no plan for the bloated squad they’ve built and there’s a real risk of Wiley getting frozen out from the first team or getting stuck in a cycle of year-long loans. At the same time, it’s really hard to say that anyone should reject the financial security of a six-year deal from one of the richest clubs in the world.
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Caleb Wiley scores terrific goal from distance
Check out a long-range goal from Caleb Wiley, who just completed his transfer from Atlanta United to Chelsea.
What it means for the USMNT: It’s another signal that top teams in Europe are interested in players beyond the USMNT’s first team. On top of that: while the Chelsea situation is a looming disaster, there’s at least a clear path toward immediate playing time for Wiley on loan at Ligue 1’s Strasbourg, the other club owned by Chelsea’s owners.
Sheffield United to Celtic, €7.1 million
Grade: C-
What it means for the player: He’ll get to play in the Champions League, but the fact that he wasn’t scooped up by another Premier League club seems to suggest that the market thinks Trusty played a role in Sheffield United being one of the worst teams the Premier League has ever seen last season.
It’s hard to begrudge anyone moving to an historic club like Celtic, but it’s a strange situation. You get to play in the Champions League, while the rest of your schedule is filled out by matches against low-quality teams that you’re so much better and richer than. It’s not the ideal environment for player development.
What it means for the USMNT: Not a whole lot. It seems like Trusty will remain a fringe center-back option for the USMNT.
Chelsea to Barnsley, loan
Grade: C+
What it means for the player: Playing time. While he’s still a ways away from being a top-level goalkeeper — they tend to peak much later than outfield players — this will be Slonina’s third season as a professional starting goalkeeper, in a third different league. The variety of experience seems unlikely to be a bad thing.
What it means for the USMNT: It probably has no effect on the USMNT in the current World Cup cycle, but hey. Given the current U.S. situation in goal, a great shot-stopping season — even in League One — would at least warrant a look for Slonina as the USMNT’s No. 1 goalkeeper.
Columbus Crew to Middlesbrough, €3.7 million
Grade: A-
What it means for the player: A likely pay raise and playing time in a physical, incredibly competitive league. Middlesbrough figure to be in the mix for promotion to the Premier League again this year, and Morris has started all four matches thus far.
If Morris keeps it up, he’ll start getting call-ups to the full senior national team.
What it means for the USMNT: Yet another young midfielder who is getting a lot of playing time at a pretty competitive level. While there was absolutely no midfield depth in Qatar at the World Cup, it’s looking like it’ll be a very different situation come 2026.
Eintracht Frankfurt to FC Utrecht, loan
Grade: C
What it means for the player: He signed a contract extension with his parent club before heading back to the Eredivisie on loan. That, at least, suggests that the Bundesliga side still see some long-term potential in Aaronson, even if they clearly don’t think he’s ready to contribute in a “Big Five” league.
While the team isn’t anything special, Utrecht should provide plenty of playing time for Aaronson.
What it means for the USMNT: There’s a world where Aaronson lights up the Eredivisie and starts getting some senior team minutes, but the loan seems more likely to be an indication that we’re still a couple years away from Aaronson realistically being a USMNT contributor.
