Best Signings, Biggest Surprises and More

The MLS

primary transfer window closed on Wednesday and the offseason window is (finally) complete. With a little closure, let’s hand out superlatives from the window.

As always, we won’t know for sure the complete impact of this window for teams for possibly years to come, but that’s never stopped us before, has it?

Best transfer window: FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati

’s offseason began with

Lucho Acosta blindsiding the club with a transfer request
in the locker room following their playoff exit. It continued with Acosta refusing to show up for preseason… and neither did Luca Orellano or Yuya Kubo.

The club had salary cap concerns to keep together a talented roster, even before the transfer request(s) and no-shows. Cruz Azul came for Orellano immediately after Cincy triggered his purchase option. Boca Juniors didn’t come for Acosta. The club that did — Estudiantes — turned out to not actually have the money they claimed to have.

Yet by opening day, Cincy were able to:

• Sign forward Kevin Denkey for a then-league-record transfer. Denkey has somehow been better than advertised.
• Negotiate an Acosta exit and Evander arrival simultaneously. Evander is continuing his MVP-caliber form in Cincy.
• Find another loan deal for Alvaro Barreal.
• Re-work Orellano’s contract for the player to return.
• Sign left wingback Lukas Engel on loan. He has fit seamlessly into Pat Noonan’s system.
• Bring in U-22 initiative center back Gilberto Flores, who seems to be the real deal in defense.

It was a masterclass, one made more difficult by outgoings and incomings at the same time, cap constraints and a few very unhappy players. They managed it all and are among the best teams in MLS.

I was torn between Cincy and Chicago. The Fire’s overhaul under Gregg Berhalter as CSO and head coach manifested quickly, with the biggest addition Jonathan Bamba providing electricity at Soldier Field that hasn’t been there since they returned from Bridgeview.

Another club worth mentioning is Charlotte FC

.

Charlotte added Wilfried Zaha as the marquee move, but so far the best piece of business was bringing back Pep Biel on a non-DP deal. Left back Souleyman Doumbia and midfielder Eryk Williamson were strong additions to improve the squad depth and give Dean Smith further options.

(My) Worst prediction: Vancouver Whitecaps

YIKES!

The consensus among league circles and media wasn’t optimistic about the Vancouver Whitecaps

, but I’ll own this one. I had Vancouver comfortably below the playoff line and, man, that looks extremely dumb right about now. Watching the way this team plays, I’m glad to be very wrong.

Vancouver came into 2025 with ownership publicly putting the team for sale, a new head coach taking over just ahead of preseason, a DP abruptly leaving in preseason without directly being replaced with that DP tag and a Concacaf Champions Cup fixture list to complicate early-season MLS matches.

Yet not only did they persevere, they thrived. Across both competitions, with a CCC semifinal tie against Inter Miami CF

about to kick off and a first place standing in the Western Conference at the quarter-mark of the season.

Results are paramount, but it’s not just the bottom line. It’s the journey, it’s the style. The bravery both on and off the field: Jesper Sorensen asks his players to be courageous and, in turn, he leads the way with his own choices. How he rotates the team and doesn’t overhaul the style to be more conservative in big road matches.

Leading scorer Brian White didn’t start either CCC quarterfinal leg against Monterrey. The team didn’t change a thing when star attacker Ryan Gauld went down with an injury.

Coaches often ask their teams to be brave. They don’t always show it with their decisions. Sorensen did. And good for them that they’ve been rewarded. It doesn’t hurt to make me and plenty other national media look like fools along the way.

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Didn’t do enough: NYCFC

New York City FC

sold Santi Rodriguez for big money (good for player and club!) and did … not much.

The philosophy is centered around acquiring highly talented young players. They spent plenty of money to do so. It’s a good strategy, one that NYCFC has been very successful with. The issue now is they have not balanced that ideology to diversify the profile of the squad.

NYCFC could add two DPs if they wanted to. They added none. The team still relies critically on 38-year-old Maxi Moralez. One way to help bright young attackers Julian Fernandez, Agustin Ojeda and others thrive is setting up the structure around them to help.

They don’t want to sign too many players to block the youngsters (good!) but NYCFC swung too far in the other direction.

The deadline day acquisition of Aiden O’Neill — a 25-year-old Australia international defensive midfielder — is a positive step towards that balance. And maybe they push for Kevin De Bruyne this summer.

Best DP signing: Kevin Denkey, Cincinnati

As covered above, the dude is just clearly an excellent signing.

Denkey’s finishing ability and elite athleticism was well known before arriving in a deal worth north of $16 million from Cercle Brugge, but his intelligent movement and timing elevates him to the best DP signing of the winter (so far) for me.

Bamba, Evander, Anders Dreyer, Marco Pasalic and David da Costa are worthy contenders based on form. I do think Emmanuel Latte Lath will be here too, but hasn’t performed quite as well as the others just yet.

Best low-key signing: Jovan Lukic, Philadelphia

Midfielder Jovan Lukic typifies the Union’s doubling down on their game model and transfer philosophy. He’s been among the key players leading Philly’s strong start to 2025.

Signed from Serbian club Spartak Subotica in February, the 23-year-old has made an instant impact with Philadelphia, starting all nine MLS games this season. Lukic has contributed two goals from midfield, and has an 84 percent pass completion percentage so far.

Lukic is just the latest in a long line of diamonds in the rough found by the Union’s front office.

Buyer’s remorse?: Atlanta United

It’s still early, so the question mark is doing some heavy lifting here, but boy, after a complete overhaul from last summer to this winter, Atlanta United

are not doing great.

Many of the pieces make sense in theory, but it hasn’t clicked yet. When will it click— Or will it click?

My stance remains there is too much talent for this to not at least be okay, but for now, panic is rising and urgency to put together a couple good performances in a row is sky-high.

Best U-22 signing: Igor Jesus, LAFC

Los Angeles FC

defensive midfielder Igor Jesus has been a strong combination of ball-winning and tempo-setting from the base of midfield, slotting in without a hiccup as a key starter. The 22-year-old has already settled as a positive signing.

Nashville’s Ahmed Qasam, Cincy’s Flores, Portland’s Kevin Kelsy and New England’s Ilay Feingold are just a few others in this conversation too.

Best O-35 signing: Whoever signs Kei Kamara

Let Kei cook!

Best use of internal market: Colorado Rapids

The Rapids took a strong team from 2024 and added the following players from within MLS:

• Chidozie Awaziem
• Josh Atencio
• Ted Ku-DiPietro
• Ian Murphy

Smart moves and four players that fit well.

Best “getting the band back together”: San Jose Earthquakes

With late deals to

sign DeJuan Jones
and Noel Buck (two moves I love), Bruce Arena’s San Jose Earthquakes

acquired SEVEN former New England Revolution

players in his first transfer window as CSO and head coach.

It’s like a bank heist movie where they get the crew back together for one final job. Too bad New England ain’t moving Carles Gil.

Related

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“The action is the juice” award: New England Revolution

Speaking of bank heist movies, this award is named after the iconic line in Heat. New England were nonstop action this offseason, bringing in 16 players and moving out 20 players. It was essentially an expansion offseason except they had to get players out to facilitate all the new signings.

It’s been a very strong window, even if the season got off to a slow start. The Revs have put together a string of positive results to allay the pressure a bit and the new signings are settling in.

Ignatius Ganago looks like a really good fit in this team and league, as does wing-back Ilay Feingold, among other strong additions.

Most pleasant surprise: Anders Dreyer, San Diego

I wanted to talk about San Diego FC

a bit, so I just made something up.

San Diego’s expansion build is centered around the game model and a pair of DP wingers. Through the first quarter of the season, it’s Anders Dreyer who has been the club’s standout attacker. Pretty quickly into his San Diego tenure you wonder why another Champions League club didn’t step in and snap him up from Anderlecht.

Another guy I want to shout out is Orlando City’s Marco Pasalic. He hit the ground sprinting like Dreyer did. Both guys are flashing potential Best XI talent.

Most “classic MLS” move: Galaxy trade GAM for GAM

The Los Angeles Galaxy

came up against the salary cap monster after winning MLS Cup in 2024 and boy, was it a ginormous final boss.

Winning MLS Cup makes everything worth it. There is no question. But as they clawed to get under the cap, in the final days before roster compliance date, the Galaxy traded $125,000 of 2026 allocation money to D.C. United for $100,000 of 2025 allocation. Like a loan.

It’s beautiful. Never change, MLS.

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