The winter transfer window in MLS is the busier and more important of the two transfer windows for acquiring players — at least for another 18 months.
In the summer of 2027, MLS will flip the league schedule to align with Europe’s top leagues, meaning their transfer-window cadence will overlap as well. For now, though, the winter window is the one held in conjunction with MLS preseason preparations and, as such, it remains king.
All 30 MLS clubs are well into offseason planning. Below is an overview of what to expect going forward and the biggest moves that have either already happened or previously been reported by The Athletic.
The information found within this article has been gathered according to The Athletic’s sourcing guidelines. Sources with knowledge of transfer dealings, who asked to be kept anonymous to protect relationships, have been spoken to before offering the clubs involved the opportunity to comment.
How will Inter Miami plan to defend its title?
The Lionel Messi 1.0 era at Inter Miami ended a few weeks ago with the club lifting its first MLS Cup. Now, it’s the Messi 2.0 era.
Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba retired, opening two Designated Player (DP) spots. (In MLS, teams can use up to three DP spots and pay those players whatever they want, but it counts against the salary cap at a fixed cost. Messi, for instance, was paid $20 million in 2025 but hit the salary cap at $743,750. The rule that originated with David Beckham’s arrival in 2007 is how MLS clubs can be forced to operate within a salary cap system but still maintain flexibility to swing big.)
Rodrigo De Paul’s purchase option after his loan from Atlético Madrid (around $17 million, per sources briefed on the deal) has been executed, meaning the Argentine World Cup winner will take one of those two spots. Miami still has one more to use.
The club is the most ambitious in the league, and expectations are high. Rumors linking Timo Werner to Miami were never true, though, sources briefed on the situation say.
Beyond that, Miami has already gotten better defensively. The Athletic previously reported Miami is finalizing a deal to sign Canadian international goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair in free agency. He won MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2025 and will step in for playoff hero Rocco Rios Novo, whose loan from Lanús expired.
Miami is also in the market for another key center back and is sorting through trade targets around MLS, sources say.
The club has already signed former Spurs left back Sergio Reguilón, who will jump right into the lineup in Alba’s absence, as well as Argentine right back Facundo Mura, per sources. Luis Suárez, who will turn 39 in January and was reduced to a reserve as Miami hit their stride in the playoffs, has officially re-signed for next season.
Despite all the big decisions to make, Miami has a solid chance to be even better in 2026.
Dayne St. Clair will be taking his shot-stopping ability (and celebrations) to South Florida as the new goalkeeper for Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami (Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)
Which clubs will be the most busy in January?
A lot of clubs have gotten off to quick starts to the offseason, bringing in key pieces long before preseason kicks off (more on those in a bit).
There is still plenty to do across the league, and the likes of Sporting Kansas City, St. Louis City, the San Jose Earthquakes and Toronto FC figure to be busy in particular.
Under new management for the first time in 16 years, Sporting KC is in a full rebuild and is in the final stages of hiring a new head coach. Once that is done, the club will accelerate player acquisitions and will probably sign at least 10 more players.
St. Louis is in a similar boat, in that it is going through a complete change under new management. The fourth-year club has more players under contract that will limit its ability to make as many new signings this winter as it may hope in an effort to return to the playoffs.
San Jose and Toronto need fewer total players but have roster flexibility (and money) to spend more. TFC’s search for a DP No. 9 and SJ’s pursuit of a DP No. 10 may result in two of the more opulent deals of the winter around MLS.
Which clubs feel they don’t need to make many, or any, moves?
San Diego FC is more likely to make tweaks around the edges of its roster than to take big swings. The club just enjoyed the best regular season for an expansion team in MLS history (19 wins, 63 points), finished first in the Western Conference and made it to the conference final.
The Vancouver Whitecaps are another, as they are more focused on keeping their core intact after a magical run to the MLS Cup final. The Seattle Sounders are mostly running back the same squad with a few tweaks as well and will be viewed among the best clubs in the Western Conference.
Alex Freeman was a breakout star for Orlando City and the U.S. men’s national team in 2025 (Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
Which important players could be on their way out of MLS?
It’s a bit less newsy of an outbound window for MLS players than typical. The World Cup coming in the summer will slow or defer moves, especially those for young Americans Diego Luna, Jack McGlynn and Alex Freeman.
Freeman is out of contract at the end of 2026, and while Orlando City is still working to convince him to re-sign, he almost certainly will leave for free in a year if it gets to that. La Liga’s Villarreal is firmly in the driver’s seat to be his next destination. A likely scenario is Villarreal agreeing to a deal with Orlando now and letting Freeman stay until the summer.
Mexico international Obed Vargas is also out of contract in 12 months, which means the Sounders need to make progress on a new contract or agree to a transfer now. The latter seems more likely, with a ton of interest coming from Liga MX.
Colorado Rapids forward Rafael Navarro is someone else to watch. The club rejected bids north of $7 million from Fluminense in the summer, and the expectation was Flu and other Brazilian clubs would be back this winter.
The biggest potential winter transfer out of MLS may be highly rated U.S. youth international left back Peyton Miller. He won a starting spot with the New England Revolution when he was 16, and now, having just turned 18, he can head to Europe. A number of big clubs in England and elsewhere are interested in him. Any potential deal could be in the region of what Atlanta United received for Caleb Wiley from Chelsea ($11 million).
San Diego FC center back Manu Duah is on the radar of Champions League-level clubs in Europe, and a move is possible in January, but it wouldn’t be cheap. San Diego will likely seek something north of the $8 million plus add-ons Colorado received for Canadian center back Moïse Bombito from Nice.
Luca Bombino, San Diego’s starting left back, was already the subject of a summer bid from West Brom. More offers will come in the next 12 months for the 19-year-old.
LA Galaxy winger Gabriel Pec is a player with interest in Europe and Brazil, but after being acquired for $10 million from Vasco da Gama two years ago, it would take a significant fee for the Galaxy to agree to a transfer.
Another center back that is admired abroad is the Philadelphia Union’s Olwethu Makhanya, but with the club just having traded Jakob Glesnes to the LA Galaxy, it would take a huge offer for Makhanya to leave too.
What are the most impactful moves so far?
Plenty of MLS clubs are well underway with their roster maneuvers. The two that are the most impactful so far are a pair of defensive additions.
St. Clair’s signing with Miami and the Galaxy’s trading for Glesnes, a former MLS Defender of the Year and a player who was named MLS Best XI in 2025, lead the way. With star Riqui Puig returning for the Galaxy, and now one of the best defenders in the league joining him, the six-time league champions should go right back to being contenders in 2026 after a down year.
What the Colorado Rapids have done so far is interesting and should set them up for a boost. New head coach Matt Wells, the former Tottenham Hotspur assistant, will instil his new playing style, which will benefit club-record signing Paxten Aaronson. The additions of Trinidad & Tobago international winger Dante Sealy, Nigerian defensive midfielder Hamzat Ojediran and more are a solid start to winter business.
Another team with a decent winter thus far is the New York Red Bulls. The club turned to U.S. national team great Michael Bradley as its new head coach and will tweak its game model and philosophy to play with the ball more than previous seasons. The Red Bulls didn’t have much roster flexibility, so they created it with several key departures to make room for new signings.
The Chicago Fire put themselves in a great position already, adding Sweden international midfielder Anton Salétros and highly rated South Africa international center back Mbekezeli Mbokazi. It gives them the luxury of holding their final DP spot open for the summer to go big-fish hunting again.
Chicago is in the early stages of working to be in a position to sign Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski if he indeed leaves Barcelona after the World Cup, sources briefed on the situation say. Considering the significant Polish population in and around Chicago — to say nothing of his goalscoring ability — that could be a massive get.
Could Robert Lewandowski become the next global star headed to MLS? (Miguel Riopa / AFP / Getty Images)
Who has money (and roster space) to burn?
The teams with key top-of-the-roster flexibility, plus where they’re looking to spend those resources, include: Miami (DP attacker), Toronto (DP No. 9), San Jose (DP No. 10), Austin (DP attacker) and Dallas (DP No. 10). D.C. United has two open DP spots and just needs to keep adding quality wherever it can.
More teams can create that top-end flexibility, like the New England Revolution and Orlando City, with departures of current DPs.
Another team that needs key departures is Atlanta United, which was one of the worst clubs in MLS last year despite spending around $50 million in transfer fees over the two windows leading into the 2025 season — more than any club in MLS history. Atlanta is stuck in the mud with so many bad, multi-year contracts on the books, but money and ambition have never been an issue for this team.
What is the significance, if any, of the upcoming season shift?
The only discernible difference for this transfer window of the upcoming calendar shift is that all new contracts being signed will now end in the summer instead of the winter. No teams are holding back funds to use in 18 months when the first fall-to-spring season starts in MLS.
There are some teams holding key roster space and money for the summer, when global stars become more likely to sign post-World Cup. Players in frame to play at the tournament are not likely to move from abroad to North America in January, as it’s too much of a risk.
The Fire and Nashville SC are two teams I’m expecting to hold DP spots open for the summer, when the market is more robust.
