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New York Times
14-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
MLS Moves I Like: Cincinnati's star swap, LA Galaxy's for-now striker solution
Ready or not, the 2025 MLS season kicks off in about a week. As teams undergo the final stages of their preseason preparations, their sporting brass are still making moves as the window doesn't close until Apr. 23. That fact, and a flock of suitors from abroad poaching many clubs' top players this winter, leaves a lot of rosters looking incomplete heading into the first matchweek. Advertisement This winter's maneuvers have seen a somewhat lean crop of imports from other leagues, especially for players with a profile that screams '28 starts or more on a title hopeful.' That's becoming increasingly common as MLS's offseason coincides with the middle of most league's seasons, but there are always a handful of standouts coming from outside the league. Last winter saw Luis Suarez join Inter Miami, the LA Galaxy hit big on Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil and Charlotte FC pry Liel Abada from Celtic. Still, interleague moves are a bedrock of title-contending teams. Columbus' inspired run in 2023 was largely made on the backs of MLS veterans expertly executing their roles. Moves within the league will always be a vital part of squad building given the league's strict rules. With that in mind, here a few that I think will help a trio of playoff teams from 2024 either keep stride or improve on last year's showing. GO DEEPER MLS Moves I Like: Berhalter's first big swing, two USMNT switches It's on the tin, folks: these are Moves I Like. This could be the shortest entry in series history: a team missed the playoffs, acquired a guy who won MLS MVP two years ago and will be better for it. As always with Acosta, it's a bit more complicated than that. The Argentine overshadowed his own team's playoff elimination in a post-game press conference, telling reporters confidently: 'Today, I played a game I may remember as my last one with the club.' Acosta has a growing reputation for being difficult to whelm, from his heartbreak after a move to Paris Saint-Germain fell apart in early 2019 to his displeasure at 2024's first-round exit. Of course, even the most cantankerous player can have his suitors when his play is of a certain standard, and Acosta is among the best No. 10s in one of the few leagues that caters to the specialized role. Bear in mind: the plot above is from a season that didn't even see him finish in the top five of MVP voting. Acosta was left with fewer options in the final third than at any point of his four-year stay in Ohio, as the club was unable to adequately replace Brandon Vazquez and Brenner with developmental loanee Kevin Kelsy. Advertisement Despite this, he averaged 0.87 goal contributions per 90 minutes, logged 28 combined goals and assists and kept Cincinnati above the chasing pack below the three Eastern heavyweights. We still don't know the full reason for his acrimony toward the team that helped him play the best soccer of his career but the page has now officially turned. I like this move for Dallas, because they got one of MLS's best players in a game-changing position before he's exited his prime years. Acosta is a better fit for the 10 spot in Eric Quill's preferred 4-2-3-1 than Jesús Ferreira, whose move to the Seattle Sounders was covered in the last installment. Ferreira missed a lot of time in 2024, but his fit with Dallas' big signing from last winter — striker Petar Musa — was imperfect, especially if a traditional strike partnership wasn't going to be in the cards. They also replaced outgoing young playmaker Alan Velasco (who never quite lived up to his potential in Dallas) with a far more polished alternative. Musa quietly had a very good first MLS season. He scored on his debut in early March, scored in a dead-rubber Decision Day tie against Sporting KC, and bagged a total of 16 goals in league play altogether. Notably, however, not a single one of his 16 goals was assisted by Ferreira during the USMNT forward's 1,323 minutes. Instead of trying to refine an imperfect partnership, Dallas flipped Ferreira for $1.5 million of GAM (and up to an additional $800,000 pending performance benchmarks), brought in the 2023 MVP for $5 million of actual cash (plus up to $1 million of add-ons), and can use the GAM from the Ferreira deal and the remaining cash from the Velasco sale to bolster their roster around Acosta and Musa. That's just good business in a league with as many roster mechanisms as MLS. I also like this move for Cincinnati. Once Acosta voiced his displeasure, any number of offseason moves was unlikely to win back the prickly playmaker's good graces. They got a good transfer fee for a dynamic player who turns 31 in May, which they can immediately put to use to sign Acosta's successor — someone who can quickly form a new partnership with… The Orange and Blue's current situation immediately validates their (brief) record-setting expenditure. Going into the 2024 playoffs, I ranked the first-round matchups and gave a predicted outcome for each series. I failed to foresee Inter Miami and the Columbus Crew's spectacular crashes, but I went out on a limb and said Cincinnati would lose in three games to New York City FC on account of their poor finishing. The comments section took issue, with one reader telling me that '(t)he disrespect for FCC is astounding.' Advertisement You know what came next: a bounty of chances went uncashed, NYCFC brought Cincinnati to a decisive penalty shootout, and Matt Freese sent Cincinnati home before the bracket's business end. Cincinnati spent a lot of 2024 without a clear MLS starting-caliber center forward. The Aaron Boupendza experiment never yielded much fruit, and the club hoped its staunch defending and well-curated system could overcome deficiencies up front. That worked fine during the regular season, but as the stakes increased, the team's results suffered for its lack of a dependable scorer. Worse yet, this wasn't a new need: striker was an area of concern as soon as FCC shipped Brenner to Udinese in April 2023, and a downright positional crisis when Vazquez left for Monterrey that ensuing winter. The gamble to trust the system to elevate lower-caliber strikers backfired, and Cincinnati was unable to keep stride with Miami and Columbus at the top of the Eastern Conference. Cincinnati had consistent chance creation across the last three seasons, but a rolling plot of their goalscoring compared to their expected goal ledger shows a lot of wasted opportunities. Before NYCFC even played its next postseason match, Cincinnati announced it broke MLS's inbound transfer record by signing Kévin Denkey from Cercle Brugge. While Atlanta United set a new benchmark two months later with Emmanuel Latte Lath from Middlesbrough — I'm skeptical he can validate that $22 million fee, but that's for a different piece — the fit between Denkey and Cincinnati seems far clearer than their peers from Georgia. Denkey won the Pro League's Golden Boot in 2023-24, bagging 22 goals from 119 shots (44 on target, a 37% accuracy rate) and helping the often-mid-table side finish fourth in Belgium's first division. He remained in fine form this fall, scoring 10 goals from 50 shots while increasing his accuracy (46%) despite increased defensive pressure. The 24-year-old Togo international is a natural at finding space in the box and took some direct free kicks for Cercle to boot. I like this move for Cincinnati, even at the tail-end of Acosta's acrimonious breakup with the club. Sporting director Chris Albright has had ample time to prepare for life without Acosta, but Denkey is a vital insurance policy as the final offseason moves are made. Luca Orellano, Pavel Bucha and Yuya Kubo will have to up their chance creation, but Denkey will make those efforts worthwhile from the moment he debuts. Advertisement The Galaxy were the unbilled stars of the previous installment, with 'Move I Like' status thrust upon trade partners CF Montréal (for acquiring Jalen Neal) and Nashville SC (Gaston Brugman). Their biggest departure stayed within the Western Conference, as Dejan Joveljic became the first interleague cash trade in MLS history. Sporting KC spent $4 million for the Serbian striker, and I expect him to fare far better than Alan Pulido usually did. While Neal and Brugman were deemed expendable between cap considerations and alternatives at their positions, Joveljic seemed the trickiest to replace. The Serb checked a lot of boxes, but these three seemed most vital to nail with his successor. The Galaxy didn't have to look far for a solution, bringing in a player who was born 28 miles from Dignity Health Sports Park. I'm not sure anyone has watched more Christian Ramirez tape than I have, dating back to his breakthrough with Minnesota United in 2014. While he remained a hallmark of the Loons from their final NASL seasons through their early breach into MLS, he's continued to consistently score on teams where he was often the trusted backup. That didn't mute his impact in Columbus, where he became a close friend of Cucho Hernandez in part due to their on-field chemistry. Still, his profile should plug and play nicely with Greg Vanney's system, and he's a good bet to sustain his scoring rate with far more than the 1,500 minutes the Crew gave him last year. Ramirez isn't a traditional back-to-goal striker, but he's improved his hold-up game over the years and has an expert eye to play a through-ball into the channels for his teammates. 'It fits well into my game,' Ramirez told me of his interplay in 2018. 'The years I've been most successful have been when I'm that central focal point up-top, with guys running off of me. Doing little flicks (to create chances) — to a fault sometimes. I feel so comfortable with these moves and maneuvering my way through defenses.' I like this move for the Galaxy. For a GAM package between $250,000 and $500,000, Vanney has a player who already has 51 MLS goals and an MLS Cup title to his name. He'll turn 34, so this is a win-now move that keeps their options open after a couple of years. Considering Puig's continued recovery from his ACL tear and Paintsil's quad injury that'll keep him out until late March or early April, Ramirez can focus on building initial chemistry with Pec to keep the Galaxy competitive as the other DPs return. Advertisement We now go from two MLS Cup hopefuls adding starting strikers to one of the league's savviest inter-league operators. Like Montréal, Colorado is a club whose biggest moves often come from within MLS. Their owners aren't shelling out the same eight-figure transfer fees as some rivals, and they've gotten very good at identifying players who can take on bigger roles with a change of scenery. The Rapids were among 2024's biggest breakouts in Chris Armas' first season, but were woefully overwhelmed by the Galaxy in a first-round blowout. The path to improve from that 9-1 aggregate laugher was bound to require reinforcement from within the league. While Zack Steffen played poorly in his first year, there's little reason to think his status atop the Rapids goalkeeper depth chart is under threat. The defense has its work cut out, too, but another glaring weakness was Colorado's output from the wings. Ku-DiPietro made 65 MLS appearances for his boyhood D.C. United but never seemed to find solid footing under Troy Lesesne and predecessor Wayne Rooney. He's a versatile — baseball writers would call him 'toolsy' — and nimble player who ended up playing a lot of different roles with youthful vigor. D.C.'s entire attacking model depended on goalkeeper Tyler Miller thumping long balls onto Christian Benteke's forehead, but seldom did that get the Belgian into the box. That two-man attacking midfield line was asked to collect those won headers and operate until Benteke was ready in the box. Unfortunately, that just isn't Ku-DiPietro's game, as he created 1.29 chances per 90 minutes. Although 18.5% of his chances registered as 'big chances,' that's bang-average among regular MLS forwards and midfielders. Luckily, he's joining a team with a greater number of confident on-ball operators. Between Cole Bassett, Connor Ronan and Djordje Mihailovic, Ku-DiPietro shouldn't need to facilitate in low-octane sequences as often and can instead provide a vital outlet for those three to reward his savvy off-ball movement. He'll still need to work on his pass selection, but hopefully a downtick in volume can help refine his eye. Ku-DiPietro passed with a lowly 67.7% accuracy, with that figure dropping further to a hellish 66.6% in the attacking half and 62.6% in the final third. While one expects that rate to trend downward as you progress upfield into better-defended territory, a player with that rate isn't one you want to hand a bounty of attempts. Advertisement I like this move for Colorado. There's been talk that Armas may be switching from a base 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-2-1, which would allow Ku-DiPietro to stay primarily in the half-spaces rather than on the flank. It's easy to see him developing more akin to Nashville winger and Canada international Jacob Shaffelburg, a menace off the ball who creates space in the final third and makes a box-score impact as defenses focus on higher-usage teammates.
New York Times
31-01-2025
- Business
- New York Times
MLS Moves I Like: Berhalter's first big swing, and two USMNT players make a switch
The MLS offseason has arguably made more headlines for its departures than its incoming acquisitions. Plenty of teams have profited off of a surge of interest from Mexican and South American clubs: Sebastian Driussi (Austin) joined River Plate, Alan Velasco is off to Boca Juniors, and Estudiantes is in talks to snag 2023 MVP Luciano Acosta from FC Cincinnati. Advertisement This is an inevitability as MLS further assimilates into the global transfer market in all of its arenas. A club in a league like MLS can never fully be a 'buyer' or a 'seller,' instead having to remain nimble to upgrade in key areas while staying one step ahead with their roster evolution. As teams are beginning to play preseason friendlies, it's time to revive Moves I Like, a series The Athletic launched last winter to track transactions of all levels of magnitude. Today, we'll size up four moves across the league: two from sides hoping to bounce back from missing the playoffs, two from clubs that are trying to take the next step within their conferences. As the name suggests, this is not to imply that these are the four most important moves of the window, nor the ones you're sure to have missed. It's on the tin, gang: these are Moves I Like. For nearly a decade, the phrase 'new Chicago Fire designated player' has been synonymous with over-spending and underperformance alike. The names following Bastian Schweinsteiger and Nemanja Nikolic's mutual departures in 2019 hardly compare in terms of impact: Robert Beric, Ignacio Aliseda, Jairo Torres and Ousmane Doumbia among them. Worst of all was Xherdan Shaqiri, who was MLS's top earner before Lionel Messi signed and limited their roster retooling efforts with bloated wages and awful performances. Last season saw one bright spot, as Hugo Cuypers quietly bagged 10 goals feeding off of table scraps. Now in his second year, the Belgian striker will hope to forge a more consistent pipeline of service from homegrown midfield starlet Brian Gutierrez under new head coach Gregg Berhalter. The former USMNT manager mostly played in a 4-3-3 lineup over his final three years with the national team. Rather than utilizing a No. 10, his chief chance creator operated on the left wing, with Christian Pulisic cutting in toward the half-space to feed the striker or right winger Tim Weah. While Gutierrez can play on the flank, he projects to best fit as a central midfielder or a No. 10, leaving a clear need for a creative winger on the left to make his system sing. Enter Jonathan Bamba, who joined from Celta Vigo on a measly reported $2million fee that looks downright spendthrift compared to some of the club's past outlays under his sporting director predecessor, Georg Heitz. A former France youth international, Bamba has earned 10 caps with the Ivory Coast since making his commitment in 2023. The 28-year-old was a mainstay at Lille for half a decade, making 167 appearances in Ligue 1 before joining Celta Vigo in 2023. He was a regular in his first season but has been a bit part player in his second season under new coach Claudio Giráldez. In his first season, Bamba showed the exact left-sided creative prowess that Berhalter's system can further enhance. His 1.72 chances created per 90 in 2023-24 is a steady figure in its own right, nestling right between the 2024 season rates of Joseph Paintsil (1.76) and Denis Bouanga (1.67). Bamba was an excellent passer in the final third last season, with his 79.6% completion clip ranking second among all wingers in La Liga, displaying a keen eye and clever execution when it matters most. Advertisement Factor in that Celta Viga is a mid-to-lower table outfit in La Liga, and there's reason why Berhalter may hope to see improvement over that clip in a more wide-open league like MLS. GO DEEPER Berhalter reflects on USMNT firing, endorses successor Pochettino In a more rotated role this season, Bamba has seen his share of touches in the box cut in half, while his touch share in the attacking third has dropped from 45% in 2023-24 to 35.4%. That decreased involvement in the final third helps explain his diminished chance-creation tally, especially given how right-sided Celta's system skews thanks to Iago Aspas and Oscar Mingueza. I like this move for Chicago. Bamba is a consistent operator in transition and set periods of play alike. He has a high rate of attempted take-ons, which should help buy Cuypers more time to get into optimal spaces of the box. There's a lot to like about the Fire's first window with Berhalter controlling the sporting direction of the club. Before Bamba was signed, center-back Jack Elliott was a shortlisted option for this series as he brings steady defensive nous from his time with Philadelphia. In total, it's easy to see the Fire make a similar jump to Charlotte's last season: going from a fringe play-in contender to a team that could threaten to advance from the first round with a good matchup. GO DEEPER Jack Elliott on his journey from Sunday league to marking Rooney and Bale in MLS For all his detractors among USMNT fans, Ferreira has had many fine years in MLS despite his youth. The FC Dallas homegrown struggled for confidence at times in 2023 following the World Cup in Qatar, while thigh strains plagued him throughout 2024. He managed to score just five goals across 1,323 minutes, a far cry from the 18 goals that made him the 2022 MLS Young Player of the Year. Seattle came calling with $1.5million of GAM, while Dallas could net another $800,000 of GAM if he meets certain performance metrics. It's a lofty price, but the logic is obvious. Ferreira knows how to score in MLS, he's still very young and he has among the highest upside of any domestic striker in the league, which opens an international slot for another member of the roster. As the 2024 season reached its business end, the Sounders were among the steadiest teams in MLS. Seattle lost just one of its final 11 games, keeping six clean sheets and curating a +11 goal differential. Of course, that one loss was in the Western Conference final, and three of their six wins were decided by a single goal (as was their defeat). Their ability in possession, in defensive phases, and in build-up wasn't the issue: they just lacked the kind of decisive goalscorer that carried the LA Galaxy and other MLS contenders in close contests. Advertisement Now, Seattle has two of the best American MLS strikers of the past decade, as he joins Jordan Morris after his USMNT teammate put in one of the best seasons of his career to date. They'll also be joined by fellow U.S. international Paul Arriola, as well as top-tier playmaker Albert Rusnak, second-year DP Pedro de la Vega and 2024 breakout Paul Rothrock. Like Morris, Ferreira carries real positional versatility. If Schmetzer sticks with the 4-2-3-1 that brought them to the brink of MLS Cup, he has a lot of title-worthy attacking configurations available. Morris and Ferreira can both play striker while inviting real interplay with the next line beneath them. Morris, Rusnak, and Rothrock are all clear upgrades at left wing over last year's starter, since-departed Leo Chu. De la Vega, Rusnak and Ferreira can all operate as a No. 10, while Arriola and de la Vega are fine options on the right. I like this move for Seattle. With Obed Vargas still in midfield alongside Cristian Roldan and Josh Atencio waiting in the wings, there's genuine depth in all areas that would start on other playoff teams. As it stands, with the Galaxy operating for much of 2025 without Riqui Puig and Los Angeles FC still figuring out how to incorporate Olivier Giroud, the Sounders may well be the preseason favorite to win the West. After Puig tore his ACL in the conference final, it was up to his Galaxy teammates to make up for his ingenuity when pulling the strings. Up stepped Gaston Brugman, who played an assist nearly as good as Malte Amundsen's in the previous MLS Cup to break the New York Red Bulls' spirit before they could settle into the game. It was an excellent reminder of the Uruguayan's quality. Last year's meniscus tear kept him from starting regularly in 2024, often rotating with Mark Delgado to supplement Puig and Edwin Cerrillo. If you watched the Galaxy even once, you know this wasn't a team that relied on the long ball. And yet, Brugman's 75.3% accuracy when dishing over 35 yards is a clip that'll play well in any line-breaking system — which is great news for Nashville, which is often at its best when it can get Hany Mukhtar in transition. Those line-breakers are a major part of Brugman's game. Of the 89 midfielders who have racked up at least 1,800 minutes over the past two seasons, only seven have a higher 'big chance' creation rate than Brugman's 23.5% clip — right around Vargas and Colorado's criminally underrated string-puller, Connor Ronan. The opening assist in MLS Cup also reminded the league of his ability to play quick one-two passes in the engine room, while he also has tidy dribbling in the heart of the park. Considering he's only six months older than the midfielder he was traded for (Sean Davis), and it's a clear upgrade in a vital area. Advertisement I like this move for Nashville. Gary Smith's system came crashing down last season for a few reasons, but one was the club's inability to replace Dax McCarty, who is also great at breaking lines as well as playing top-level defensive midfield. They now have their man with Brugman, and that will only be good news for Mukhtar and striker Sam Surridge. Montréal was one of the biggest unexpected breakout teams of 2024, playing pretty soccer all year long under first-year head coach Laurent Courtois and maximizing post-hype breakthroughs from players like George Campbell and Caden Clark. The jig was up in the play-in round against eventual conference winner New York, but there's reason for optimism heading into 2025. One major shot in the arm came via trade, as the Galaxy parted with homegrown defender Jalen Neal for $650,000 of GAM and an international slot. The 21-year-old is among the brightest center back prospects in the USMNT pool, but injuries kept him from making the most of 2024 on all fronts. Having earned six caps (including four at the 2023 Gold Cup), there's an alternative timeline where Neal is anchoring the United States at the Olympics and a major part of the Galaxy's MLS Cup triumph. Instead, Neal missed out of the Olympics squad due to abdominal problems, and was a bench option during the MLS playoffs. A new year and a new setting could help Neal get even more out of his varied skillset. Across his 1,379 minutes in the regular season and playoffs, Neal ranked fourth among 92 qualified center backs with a 72.7% 'true' tackle win-rate, narrowly edging proven positional peers Miles Robinson and Tristan Blackmon. 'True' tackles combine raw tackle data with instances when a defender is either shaken by the ball-handler or commits a foul in the process. With that in mind, Neal was far more effective than most when attempting a challenge. The peripheral underlying numbers are also there. His 25% dribble-past right is bang average for the position, while his 56.5% accuracy on long passes nestles him near Blackmon, Noah Eile and Amundsen among the position. He's also well-equipped to play out the back with regularity, a trait that'll serve him well in Courtois' system. I like this move for Montréal, which suddenly has one of the best American center back tandems outside of Celtic. Having him and Campbell playing in-tandem could do wonders for two of the few bona fide prospects the USMNT has in the position. Regular starts and better refining his defensive chops could put him in a prime position to challenge for the 2026 World Cup squad. If he does, Neal will look back at the amount of GAM it sent to LA as a pittance in exchange for a defensive bedrock.
