Consider this your appetizer – a 10,000-foot view of the five Eastern Conference teams I expect to be busiest during the winter transfer window (which officially closes in, uh, the spring).
The main course – my 30-team guide to transfer window needs & Designated Player/U22 Initiative status for all 30 teams, in the buildup to 2025 – comes out on Thursday.
The below is based on what I’ve heard; what’s been said in end-of-season press availabilities; roster status (i.e., Atlanta have a whole coaching staff to rebuild, so it’s pretty clear they’ve got some moves coming); reporting from the likes of Sir Thomas Scoopington; and good, old-fashioned common sense.
East today, Western Conference was yesterday.
In we go:
Cincy already went out and filled their biggest need, making an MLS-record outlay for DP No. 9 Kévin Denkey. And honestly, as long as they bring back two veterans they’re in discussions with – Yamil Asad and Nick Hagglund – they could do not much else and still be among the best teams in the league, provided they have better injury luck than in 2024. This roster is really, really good.
But! This roster is not very deep, and that’s the needle GM Chris Albright needs to thread since they’ll be competing across numerous competitions in 2025. They currently can open a DP slot and, with the departure of Kevin Kelsy and the tragic death of Marco Angulo, have zero U22s on the roster.
Stuff that could happen:
- Will we see them use a buy-out on, say, Corey Baird, which would open a senior roster slot and some TAM?
- Can they talk Álvaro Barreal into returning? They still have his rights, and he’d make a ton of sense in this roster, even as a third DP.
- If it's not Barreal, do they add a third DP attacker? Maybe someone to play out wide, or do they push Luca Orellano back out there and instead add a second forward?
- Can they get Lucho Acosta happy?
That last one is incredibly massive, as Lucho spent the first two-thirds of last season playing at an MVP level before injuries hobbled him and he sounded the alarm after their early Audi MLS Cup Playoffs exit. The latest intel I’ve got is they think he’ll be on the team in 2025.
But who knows? He’s a mercurial guy, and if, say, Boca Juniors come in with the right number… I don’t know. I wouldn’t bet on it happening, but I’m not ruling it out.
Contracts declined on three veterans? Ok. Purchase option declined on DP playmaker Pep Biel? Not at all unexpected. So there’s likely at least one big, new piece – and remember, last summer Charlotte were linked to Giovani Lo Celso, so when I say big I mean BIG – coming to this team.
Beyond that, the big decision is whether or not to buy out the final year of Karol Swiderski’s DP deal (assuming they can’t move him outright, which would obviously be the first choice). If they manage that, they’ve got two open DP slots to play with and an owner who hasn’t been shy about opening the checkbook (even if GM Zoran Krneta's record with DPs has been less than stellar).
It’s not as many moving pieces as some of the other teams in the East, but $30 million spent on two new guys would not shock me at all.
The other thing to keep an eye on: Will there be a godfather offer for center back Adilson Malanda? If that comes through, then Krneta and his staff will suddenly be much, much busier.
This team is undergoing an almost complete teardown, which obviously will be followed by a rebuild. In most years, in most conferences, that’d have them at No. 1 on the list. But in this year’s version of the East, they manage only the bronze medal spot.
New England have either traded, declined options on, or let walk outright 14 players from last year’s roster, which clears over $6 million of salary budget. That is quite literally half the team.
Add in reports of DP No. 9 Giacomo Vrioni being on his way out and we’re up to $8+ million and an open DP slot. That’s on top of two open U22 Initiative slots.
The work filling out the roster has already started, as they used TAM to sign Colombian center back Brayan Ceballos from Brazilian club Fortaleza, and spent a reported $1.7 million for Mali international center back Mamadou Fofana from Ligue 2 club Amiens SC. My guess is that’s the starting center-back pairing, and they’ll use one of those U22 slots on a young backup.
The other spots they need to address are central midfield and center forward (whether or not they manage to ship off Vrioni).
They obviously have the resources to do all of it. But it will be a busy couple of months ensuring this team’s ready to go in February.
Technically speaking, as new head coach and director of football Gregg Berhalter gets going, Chicago have one DP slot open. But there is maybe no more obvious buyout candidate in the entire league than Gastón Giménez, who’s entering his 92nd season with the club and somehow – somehow! – keeps getting his deal renewed.
So I’m assuming Chicago will look for two new DPs. And I’m assuming owner Joe Mansueto, who’s been among the highest-spending owners in the league over the past decade, won't suddenly put his checkbook away. If you set the over/under at $30 million of new spend, I would hammer the over.
That's before factoring in Chicago's open U22 Initiative slot, which they just managed by sending Georgios Koutsias on loan across the pond. Could Federico Navarro join him? It wouldn’t shock me at all.
Oh, and they’ve already done great work in the league by signing veteran CB Jack Elliott – my favorite available free agent – to a deal this week. I’m not sure there will be more of that coming (their cap remains a mess), but they’re already a better team than they were at the end of October.
Get those DPs right, though, and Chicago might actually make the playoffs.
The highest-spending owner in league history has two open DP slots and two open U22 slots, plus around $30 million worth of unspent funds left over from the summer transfer window.
That alone would make Atlanta the No. 1 team to watch this winter. But wait, there’s more!
- They've just named Chris Henderson as CSO/sporting director. For the last 15-plus years, he's worked some MLS roster magic with Seattle and Miami. Expect more of the same, especially now that he's back with Garth Lagerwey.
- There’s still no head coach. It’s not Rob Valentino, who did such a good job in the postseason as an interim, nor is it Patrick Vieira, who got himself a job in Serie A with Genoa. I’m also hearing it won't be longtime Philadelphia manager Jim Curtin, who I thought was the favorite. But I think it will be someone we’re all familiar with.
- They have a buyout to use and it’s hard to imagine they love paying almost $900k for a backup center back (Luis Abram).
A confounding factor is it’s not clear whether the one DP they’ve got on the roster, Alexey Miranchuk, is all that good. Nor is it clear whether he fits best as a winger or a No. 10 in a 4-2-3-1, or maybe as a half-space merchant in a 3-4-2-1. That’s a big, big worry. Good luck with that, Mr. New Coach!
Anyway, this team’s about to make some massive moves and spend more money than anybody in MLS history, all while building out their front office and coaching staff. They also need midfield/backline depth and could work some more significant trades (they’ve already made a minor one).
So yeah, in the East and MLS overall, Atlanta are the No. 1 team to watch this winter.
Darkhorse to Watch
Eleven players from last year’s team were either out of contract or saw their options declined. Add in the mid-summer retirement of Steve Birnbaum, and that’s 12 guys whose deals took up more than $5.5 million worth of salary budget. Oh, and they're reportedly selling homegrown center back Matai Akinmboni to Premier League side AFC Bournemouth, which nets them a bunch of GAM to throw at any signings.
D.C. aren't the type to spend big – they’d open up a DP slot this winter if they were; I’m not expecting that – but that’s a lot of room for CSO Ally Mackay to work with over the next few months as he rebuilds the backline, parts of the midfield and attack, adds a few more wingbacks, and remakes the goalkeeper corps.
