MLS’s Primary Transfer Window closes in two weeks, on April 23.
Effectively, that means you can’t make any significant moves – transfers or trades – until the Secondary Transfer Window opens on July 24. There’s no big June or early July signings (or at least you can’t register the player quite yet), and there’s no mid-season trade offers that can bowl over a reluctant partner. Get it done now, or you’re committed to this group for the next three months.
Why’s that significant? Well, July 24 is quite late in the regular season. There are about 10 matches left by that date, which means we’re working in a significantly different Secondary Transfer Window landscape than as recently as 2022. That year, the Columbus Crew added Cucho Hernández in late June and he logged 16 games, which is just about 50% of the season. In 2016, Nico Lodeiro arrived and basically resurrected a Seattle Sounders season that was headed to the morgue.
Ten games might not be enough to do that. Chief Soccer Officers around the league should feel some real urgency to get moves done now, especially for teams that have not gotten off to a good start. Because if you wait for the summer window, it's potentially too late.
Note that teams can add guys from their MLS NEXT Pro affiliates and homegrowns, as well as any players who were already out of contract when the Primary Window closed. But that’s a pretty narrow slice of talent.
With that in mind, here’s what each Eastern Conference team should be focused on in the next two weeks. (The Western Conference dropped yesterday). We’ll go in order of the current standings:
Need: Another striker.
Believe me, I had a whole other blurb ready to go before news dropped Wednesday morning that Columbus had pulled off a giant move: a cash trade for Philly's goalscoring No. 10 Dániel Gazdag (good scooping, Tommy).
Gazdag is an excellent fit because of his flexibility (he floats between playmaker and goalscorer even in less flexible systems than Wilfried Nancy's), experience and quality. He's not exactly a direct Cucho replacement – they're different players – but also, he is the direct Cucho replacement. There are a ton of similarities in where their goals come from. Like 80% of them, anyway.
Nancy has talked, in basically every postgame presser, about how the team’s missing a bit of final-third quality. Gazdag fills that hole. This move makes a ton of sense for the Crew, who needed more than just a body: they needed another match-winner. Gazdag has been that.
He slides into that attack alongside Diego Rossi, another player who is half a 9, half a playmaker, and half a winger (he’s a lot of player). Together they should be excellent, and some combo of AZ Jackson, Dylan Chambost and Max Arfsten backing them up provides adequate depth.
Here is the quick tactical explanation:
- All three attackers in Nancy's system are space interpreters who need to know when to toggle between half-space merchant and goalscorer. That's literally the thing Gazdag's best at.
Don't expect highlights. Just expect goals.
Jacen Russell-Rowe remains the only true No. 9 on the roster (though bear in mind that he, too, ends up being a raumdeuter who gets more touches in the right half-space than in traditional No. 9 spots) and he’s been really good. I don't think they should recruit over him with another DP slot (they could also buy Darlington Nagbe down).
There is also soon-to-be-17-year-old academy product Chase Adams, who's probably the best center forward prospect in all of US soccer right now. I'm not sure he's physically ready for MLS yet, but maybe there's an element of keeping the runway clear for him to get playing time in the second half of the season?
Even so, I'd like to see them go out and find another semi-proven striker to add to the mix. Just to have that club in the bag in case they need to play it.
Need: A third-string left back, I guess? (And someone to convince the Barça boys to rest occasionally).
Just a ridiculously complete roster with no real needs as long as they keep developing their youngsters into meaningful contributors (so far, so good on that front under Javier Mascherano).
Will Julian Gressel be dealt before the window closes, by the way? Exiling him the way they have makes zero sense, even if the roster as it’s constructed is pretty much bulletproof.
Note that FIFA has implemented a special "exceptional registration window" from June 1-10 for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. That allows participating clubs, including Miami, to sign new players before the tournament begins.
Need: Center back Uhhh... attacking midfielder?
Ok, they clearly need a center back, so I'm leaving the original blurb in. After Ian Glavinovich’s meniscus injury, they’re suddenly thin in the middle of the backline, with 17-year-old Neil Pierre the only name on the depth chart behind starters Jakob Glesnes and Olwethu Makhanya.
I doubt they’re planning to go out and spend, and they don’t really have room to do so anyway since the senior roster is basically full.
But is a trade possible? They don’t need to swing for the fences here. They can find a veteran who knows how to soak up regular-season minutes.
Here, however, are some additional thoughts following the reported Gazdag trade:
- Is this the prelude to a big acquisition? They now have a DP slot open or – more likely – can now shift to a 2/4/GAM roster build model this summer, which means they'd have two U22 slots open.
- Is this meant to create playing time for high-upside academy products Cavan Sullivan, CJ Olney and David Vazquez?
Union sporting director Ernst Tanner is relentless about pushing young players into big minutes, so I suspect it's the latter. Though keep an eye on Indiana Vassilev as well. He's a Bradley Carnell favorite and has been very good for the Union since arriving from St. Louis.
Need: To get Patrick Agyemang untracked.
This is another incredibly deep roster with no real needs, other than to keep building chemistry and play better in the final third. The record’s good, but it hasn’t quite clicked yet for Agyemang, Wilfried Zaha and Pep Biel. They should give it time.
So I think they’ll stand pat until summer, which is the right call, though I wouldn’t rule out a minor trade.
Would Ben Bender have any value around the league? I could see him being very useful for, say, D.C. United.
Need: Central midfield ball progressor.
Cincy have done an incredibly good job staying afloat despite all the injuries, which is a credit to head coach Pat Noonan and the players. There aren't many teams that could regularly use center backs five through eight on their depth chart and collect results.
I still want to see them add a U22 central midfield ball progressor, though. Too much of it falls on the shoulders of Pavel Bucha, and the whole thing devolves pretty heavily towards junk-ball if he’s not on the field.
They have several open U22 slots they can use, and ownership that’s never minded spending a bit.
Need: A young center back with upside.
They’ve gotten real contributions down the depth chart at d-mid, which answers a huge short-term question I had about them (neither Joran Gerbet nor Colin Guske are made-up names designed to test your BS detector – both are real players who have played real minutes this year). Longer term, they need to do what it takes to get César Araújo to re-sign, as Tom Bogert pointed out in his column yesterday.
The question, then, shifts to central defense. Juan Rodríguez, a 19-year-old starter for Peñarol who’s already made his national team debut for Uruguay, makes so much sense with that open U22 slot they’re sitting on.
Need: Patience.
I’m sure they’re keeping a DP slot open for the summer, which is what they should do given how well everything is functioning at the moment. Once Brian Gutiérrez gets back – soon, I think – they’ll finally have their first-choice front six, and my guess is they’ll cook.
If/when Chicago sell Gutiérrez this summer, that opens up the need for a No. 10, and then that becomes the obvious way to use that DP slot. No sense moving until the dominoes start falling, though.
Are they a little light at center back with all the injuries? Yes, but it’s probably not enough to necessitate a move.
Need: An elite attacker with pace who will run in behind
So, Tottenham don’t want Timo Werner. And that means he’s headed back to RB Leipzig – who also don’t want him – this summer, with the intent to “assess new club options.”
Any chance all parties involved could kill the Tottenham loan right now and get Werner to Harrison? He’d be fresh – he rarely played in three months – and is exactly what this RBNY team needs, both on the field and in terms of firing up the fanbase.
Werner is under contract with Leipzig until the summer of 2026, so RB Global’s on the hook for his salary regardless. And RBNY have an open DP slot.
This one makes so, so much sense.
Need: A goalscoring winger.
Nashville have started playing really good ball, but have not figured out how to score consistently. Hany Mukhtar’s not the threat he was two years ago, Sam Surridge won't win the Golden Boot any time soon, and Ahmed Qasem thus far is more of a playmaker than an in-the-box guy.
I'd love to see them find a U22 winger who understands where goals come from and how to get into those spots; the 2018 version of Diego Rossi, basically. A player like that would raise the hell out of this team’s ceiling.
Need: Given the constant errors, center back seems like the spot that most urgently needs addressing.
There’s an argument for adding a high-level midfield ball-winner, but I actually like what I’ve seen from Tristan Muyumba so far this year, and Ajani Fortune seems to have added some of that to his game. Three weeks ago, I’d have said that kind of No. 6 was the top priority, but I don’t think I feel that way anymore.
What I do feel, though, is the center backs have repeatedly cost Atlanta points.
I would not be shocked if they felt it was appropriate to make a move before the window closed. That said, we all know Garth Lagerwey and Chris Henderson prefer to wait until summer, so I'm guessing that’s what they’ll do.
Need: DP No. 10
It’s cool watching Maxi Moralez, he of the salt-and-pepper beard that’s becoming more and more salt, out there still providing value at age 38. But they’re probably stretching him too far at this point, and homegrown kid Máximo Carrizo probably won’t be ready for another few years.
So yeah, a replacement for Santi Rodríguez is the obvious thing here. Although I would argue the bigger need is for the young wingers NYCFC spent large on (Julián Fernández and Agustín Ojeda) to justify that outlay.
Need: A secondary goalscorer.
Hopefully Fidel Barajas can get on the field and fix some of the chance creation issues, but really, this is supposed to be a pressing team, and pressing teams are supposed to create chances via the overall system. “The press is the best playmaker,” right?
If that’s the thinking – and as long as Troy Lesesne’s the coach, I’m pretty sure it will be – they need to sign someone who can lighten Christian Benteke’s goalscoring load. Whether that’s a second forward, or a goalscoring winger, or a box-arriving 10, what’s clear is the guys on the roster haven’t been up to the task.
Need: A cultural reassessment.
They’re giving big minutes to two guys (Ignatius Ganago and Maxi Urruti) who haven’t scored consistently in two years, while their high-upside young midfielders and attackers can’t get on the field. That's sort of the opposite of who the Revs were, culturally, when things were going well a few years back.
It can't hurt to play and develop those guys when the veterans aren’t carrying their weight. So far this year, they haven't.
New England, for what it’s worth, have a tiny bit of roster and budget flexibility. But given how much they spent this offseason to overhaul almost everything, I doubt they’re about to dive into the transfer water again.
Need: The Italian DPs to continue their form from Sunday night.
Toronto went out and got Maxime Dominguez, who is supposed to be their line-breaking, chance-creating central midfielder. That should help.
But what they really need is for Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne to keep playing like they give a damn, because it’s clear neither is going anywhere else any time soon. Insigne reportedly turned down multiple chances to depart, Bernardeschi is under contract for several more years, and ownership has shown no indication that buyouts are imminent.
These guys can be very good when they put their minds to it. Will they?
Need: They’ve got an open DP slot and a massive need for a No. 10.
The team leaders in expected assists are center forward Prince Owusu and center back George Campbell, who have each totaled 0.9 xA on the season. Last year’s No. 10, Bryce Duke, has created three open-play chances in nearly 400 minutes. The guy who was brought in to start at the 10 ahead of last season, Dominic Iankov, has played just 10 minutes all year.
Maybe winter addition Hennadii Synchuk is supposed to be that guy, but it’s tough to put that much pressure on an 18-year-old during his first year in a new country.
