Across Europe, the world’s top leagues are beginning their marathon fall-to-spring seasons, and now more than ever, that involves dozens of former MLS players and products of MLS academies.
Their quest to prove themselves among the planet's best and brightest provides us with so many fascinating stories to keep track of – too many to list here. But here’s our take on some of the most engaging at the moment, arranged in the familiar format of a starting XI and reserves bench.
MLS club: Chicago Fire FC
The Chicago Fire product remains a soldier in the “Chelsea loan army,” and his next assignment is a starting role in the English third tier with Barnsley, the same club that put Daryl Dike on the European map in 2021. With promotion very much the goal for the Tykes, it’s the right kind of challenge for Slonina, who only turned 20 a few months ago and felt the sting of relegation in his previous loan stint at Belgian club KAS Eupen. Can he blossom into the next great US ‘keeper?
“I think the most important thing for me right now is how much game time I've been able to get in my first real season in Europe,” Slonina recently told ESPN. “Because I think just breaking into the European scene, it's not so easy as a player, and even more so as a goalkeeper.”
MLS club: LA Galaxy
The summer brought a highly promising move for the ex-LA Galaxy fullback: From the periphery of FC Barcelona’s squad under new manager Hansi Flick to one of the English Premier League’s most impressive overachievers. The fact that the Cherries reportedly paid a fee approaching $11 million (a good chunk of which flows back to the Galaxy thanks to a sell-on clause) reflects a big come-up for both the player and the South Coast club, whose fans, not so long ago, sold raffle tickets to help it stay afloat in the lower reaches of the professional pyramid.
Araujo, who just turned 23, has a lot to prove but also much to gain. The Mexican-American defender won 64% of his duels in 25 matches on loan at Las Palmas last season, the fourth-best success rate in the whole of LaLiga, as he helped the Canary Islanders avoid relegation on their return to the top flight. Now he’ll test himself against the world’s best week in, week out.
MLS club: FC Dallas
It’s a big year ahead for the FC Dallas academy alum, as he looks to build on last year’s breakthrough campaign with another step forward in the harshly unforgiving environs of the EPL. Richards, 24, showed he's capable of being an everyday starter at that level in the final months of Roy Hodgson’s Palace tenure, often as a makeshift holding midfielder, then earned a regular role as a central defender when Oliver Glasner took the helm in February. Richards also started all three matches in the US men’s national team’s ill-fated Copa América run.
CPFC prospered under Glasner in the spring, taking 19 points from 21 in their final seven league matches while averaging three goals scored per game, and Richards seems to be one of the Austrian manager’s first-choice center backs for '24-'25. But the Alabama native struggled in Palace’s season-opening loss to Brentford last weekend, and with his teammate Marc Guéhi a transfer target for several Prem giants, the club are reportedly ready to bring in reinforcements at his position. Life at the top is a daily dogfight.
MLS club: Colorado Rapids
From MLS SuperDraft pick to a Europa League club in 20 months? That’s the positively Cinderella-esque trajectory the Canadian center back is on, with Nice reportedly having just splashed out north of $7 million to acquire him from the Colorado Rapids.
Many of Bombito’s numbers jump off the page: He completed 87% of his passes and led his team in clearances during Canada’s unexpected run to fourth place at Copa América, and reached a velocity of 23.16 miles per hour in a Rapids match back in April, making him the fastest man in MLS thus far in 2024.
Now the 24-year-old from the Montréal suburb of Saint-Laurent will try to extend his amazing story by settling in quickly and competing for regular minutes in France, while Jesse Marsch will surely utilize him as a foundational piece of the CanMNT back line.
MLS club: Vancouver Whitecaps FC
With Champions League and Club World Cup trophies, five Bundesliga titles and a myriad of individual honors already under his belt at the still-tender age of 23, “Phonzie” probably ranks as the single-most successful export of MLS’s academy era. The Liberian kid born in the Buduburam refugee camp and raised in snowy Edmonton is now a bona fide global star, a buccaneering left back for Germany’s biggest club and a Real Madrid transfer target for what’s seemed like years at this point.
So what’s next for the Vancouver Whitecaps product? He’s entering the final year of his Bayern contract as the Bavarian giants look for revenge after Bayer Leverkusen ended their lengthy streak of league championships, and the 2026 World Cup on home soil looms ever nearer. Whatever new chapter awaits in his already-amazing career, we’ll be watching closely.
MLS club: New York Red Bulls
A USMNT talisman when healthy, the youngest captain at the 2022 World Cup, it’s all gone horribly wrong for the New York Red Bulls homegrown product since the tournament in Qatar. Adams played a mere 138 minutes for AFCB last season thanks to persistent injury woes, and after Copa América we learned that his 180 minutes in that event may have led to him being shelved for the first few months of the EPL calendar.
“He finished the season with an injury in his back,” manager Andoni Iraola said during Bournemouth’s preseason. “He wanted to play Copa América because it was very important for him, but he had restrictions and was still in pain, so two days after they were knocked out, he had surgery.”
The tenacious defensive midfielder has to get fit, stay fit and play matches regularly this year. Anything short of that might well be career-threatening.
MLS club: CF Montréal
Yet another young Canadian is on the rise. Koné’s displays for Watford combined with all-round engine-room excellence for Les Rouges at Copa América earned him a reported $13 million-plus move to one of France’s biggest clubs, who are optimistic of challenging Paris Saint-Germain’s Ligue 1 hegemony with a slew of summer reinforcements under the guidance of new boss Roberto De Zerbi, one of the world’s top young managers.
The 22-year-old has developed at a rapid clip since breaking through at CF Montréal during Wilfried Nancy’s tenure, showcasing technique, pace, intelligence and no small amount of bravery from box to box, and his French fluency will help ease this latest transition. OM’s legions of passionate fans are notoriously demanding, but should embrace him when they see his skill and commitment.
MLS club: D.C. United
“I think this tournament could be a breaking point for Kevin.”
Those were the words of US men’s Olympic coach Marko Mitrović after Paredes lit up the program’s long-awaited Summer Games return, his two goals and one assist instigating clutch wins over New Zealand (4-1) and Guinea (3-0) to book a place in the knockout stage. Even the humbling quarterfinal loss to Morocco underlined the D.C. United product’s talent, as the victors fouled him a game-high six times to knock him off his stride, a telling show of respect.
Now, the livewire winger/wingback will aim to consolidate his summer exploits into a Bundesliga breakthrough. Ralph Hasenhüttl arrived late last winter to steer the Wolves away from relegation danger, eventually finishing in 12th place, and Paredes, who’s still only 21, possesses the guile, energy and versatility to become a trusted member of the squad. As crowded as the USMNT’s wings depth chart may be, it’s not hard to imagine incoming coach Mauricio Pochettino finding a use for him as well.
MLS club: Atlanta United
Those of us who marveled at his effervescent playmaking in Atlanta United’s explosive introduction to MLS may find it hard to believe that the Paraguayan is now 30, a Magpies mainstay with more than 200 NUFC appearances under his belt, including Champions League heroics last season. This summer ATLUTD faithful found it even more shocking to countenance the idea that he could join their upstart Southern counterparts in Charlotte, a bold gambit by The Crown that fell apart in the final days of the transfer window.
So where does Miggy go from here? Is he sliding out of favor at Newcastle, perhaps even headed for the exit? (MLS suitors may call again in the winter window if he’s not sold elsewhere this month.) Or will he rise again to make himself essential for the ambitious project led by Eddie Howe?
MLS club: Philadelphia Union
Aaronson’s career rode a steep upward trajectory from the Philadelphia Union to RB Salzburg, only to hit vicious headwinds when he made his record move to Leeds in 2022. A bruising EPL relegation experience followed by a yearlong loan at Union Berlin fueled speculation that he’d leave West Yorkshire for good this summer – but instead he declared his resolve to stay, and win over the skeptics by helping the proud club return to their promised land.
The hard-running attacker has already scored his first goal of the new campaign, an injury-time equalizer vs. Portsmouth, though it underlined the challenge in front of him that a missed chance in that same game drew a disproportionate burst of negativity from the Whites. Mark this down, though: “The Medford Messi” will give everything he has and more to prove he belongs at Elland Road.
What does the lanky Texan have to do to convince his coach, Peter Bosz, that he’s a starting-caliber striker? That’s the $10,000 question for the FC Dallas success story in '24-'25. Even working primarily as a supersub, Pepi contributed a steady stream of goals last season as the Boeren marched to the Eredivisie title, but his veteran competitor Luuk de Jong stayed a nose ahead of him with his own impressively prolific campaign.
“Pepi knows what he started when he came here, that is completely clear to him, but I can well imagine his frustration every now and then,” said Bosz after the 21-year-old scored a hat trick during preseason. “I understand it, but he has someone in front of him who has been able to take the ball home very often by scoring well.”
Pepi knows how to keep his head down and grind. We’ll see, though, if he’s forced to seek a move elsewhere for more minutes come January.
Matt Turner
Turner is way down the pecking order at Nottingham Forest and probably needs to get out of there to play regularly and keep pole position on the USMNT’s starting GK spot.
Alistair Johnston
The Canadian international has made 65 all-competition appearances for Scottish powerhouse Celtic FC since his transfer from CF Montréal, scoring two goals and dishing out nine assists. Johnston and his Celtic mates remain dominant domestically, making their Champions League hopes that much more pivotal when that competition kicks off in mid-September.
Caleb Wiley
It bodes well for Wiley that he stepped right into the starting XI at the outset of his season-long loan at Ligue 1 club Strasbourg, even if it’s only the first step in what figures to be a long road as another member of the Chelsea loan army.
Joe Scally
Scally just keeps defying expectations at Borussia Mönchengladbach: He logged a full 90 at right back in their season opener, a DFB Pokal win over lower-division side Erzgebirge Aue, and we expect him to remain the USMNT’s starter there in the Yanks’ autumn slate of matches.
Tajon Buchanan
Buchanan faces a long road back from the broken tibia he suffered with Canada over the summer, but will be hungry to earn his place at Inter Milan when recovered.
Aidan Morris
Morris has already made a strong first impression at Middlesbrough following his $4 million move from Columbus, with high hopes of powering a promotion push.
Tanner Tessmann
Tessmann is in limbo now that multiple transfers out of Venezia have fallen through – at least if the many reports to that effect are valid – but the FC Dallas academy grad and US Olympic team captain is just playing too well at the moment to be kept off the pitch for long.
Andrés Gómez
Gómez’s big move from Real Salt Lake to Stade Rennais was a surprise summer head-turner; the young Colombian needs time to adapt, but his attacking toolkit gives him a bright future.
Taty Castellanos
Castellanos just got an Argentina call-up after a decent first season at Lazio, which underlines the rising expectations for him as an elite spearhead in Serie A.
Jhon Durán
The Aston Villa striker who on the Premier League’s opening weekend made light of a rumbling transfer saga involving West Ham to score the winner for his current club against the club he apparently wants to join – another entertainingly dramatic plotline swirling around the 20-year-old Chicago Fire ex.
