MLS’s Primary Transfer Window slammed shut (yes, window metaphors remain inescapable at this time of year) on Monday evening. That means intra-league trades and new arrivals from abroad – aside from free agents – are off the table until the Secondary Transfer Window opens in midsummer, July 5 to be exact.
Which begs the question: Who had strong winter windows, and who didn’t?
We recognize that it’s still early days in the 2023 season, which inevitably limits sample size and depth of analysis. Most of the players discussed here are under multi-year contracts and deserve to be evaluated over a much longer view, so plenty of ‘so far’ qualifiers apply. Still, a quarter of the campaign is now in the books, and as we’ve all heard a thousand times, the standings hardly ever lie.
So here’s a snapshot of the winter business that’s looking good at this point… and some that isn’t, too.
The good
The Lagerwey effect
More than one prominent MLS observer has opined that the biggest move of the offseason was at the boardroom level rather than on any roster – Garth Lagerwey’s departure from the Seattle Sounders to take up the president’s post in Atlanta. And the early returns suggest there’s validity to that.
ATLUTD sit third in the Eastern Conference and sixth overall with a 5W-1L-3D record, and only St. Louis CITY have scored more than their 18 goals. Showcase signing Giorgos Giakoumakis, secured from Celtic on a reported transfer of nearly $5 million, leads the way with five tallies and also looks like a force multiplier for the rest of the attack.
Fellow newcomer Derrick Etienne Jr., a free agency arrival, has been prominent on the wings and Miguel Berry has soaked up ample minutes since arriving via a modestly-priced trade with D.C. United. Even the seemingly run-of-the-mill acquisitions of Quentin Westberg and Clément Diop for goalkeeping depth have proven useful, with both already called into action in the wake of the knee injury that will sideline starter Brad Guzan until July or so.
No one makes a splash quite like the Five Stripes, whose most important piece remains league-record signing and World Cup winner Thiago Almada. Yet the early efforts under Lagerwey – who’s made clear that he inherited an uncomfortable salary-budget situation – have underlined the importance of using all available acquisition levers to build a well-rounded squad.
Fortifying soft spots
Why did the Revs nosedive from record-setting 2021 Supporters’ Shield winners to 20th in the overall table and out of the postseason last year? Bruce Arena and his staff wrestled with that question through the icy Massachusetts winter and came out with some decent solutions that didn’t break the bank, as their current placement atop the East indicates.
With significant amounts of both faith and funds invested in their Designated Player trio of Carles Gil, Gustavo Bou and Giacomo Vrioni, New England had limited latitude for big-ticket items. But they’ve gotten two goals, two assists and lots of hard running from Re-Entry Draft pickup Bobby Wood, who’s giving Bou and Vrioni real competition for minutes up top.
Latif Blessing has been one of their top central midfielders, providing the kind of energy and bite that simplifies life for Gil and makes the package of allocation money sent in trade to LAFC look like good business. And Dave Romney, acquired from Nashville SC in January for $525,000 in General Allocation Money split across the next two seasons, has been a steady, capable starter in defense. Notably, the new arrivals seem to be complementing the Revs’ fleet of rising young homegrowns without blocking their path to first-team minutes.
Still a step ahead
As the league’s only remaining undefeated team, one of its two remaining standard-bearers in Concacaf Champions League and arguably its most dominant side so far when it comes to the eye test, things are going pretty well for LAFC. As much incumbent quality as Steve Cherundolo could count on, starting with Dénis Bouanga and Carlos Vela, their offseason moves are no small part of that.
German-American center mid Timothy Tillman arrived from Greuther Fürth with limited fanfare yet has been one of MLS’s best No. 8s in the season’s first two months. Spaniard Sergi Palencia has proved a dependable plug-and-play option at right back, and veteran Aaron Long has been eased into the center back rotation to good effect. Young European signings Stipe Biuk (1g/1a in 398 minutes) and Mateusz Bogusz (who logged his first start last weekend), while longer-range projects, have looked bright in their limited minutes to date.
As impressive as their squad looks right now, it bears noting that Cherundolo and co-president and general manager John Thorrington early on declared this year’s group to be shorter on depth than last year’s MLS Cup and Shield-winning side, citing the constraints imposed on them by league roster regulations. In the coming months, we’re intrigued to see how they balance the rigors of competing on multiple fronts.
Best garnish: Héber to Seattle Sounders
Seattle’s sturdy culture and consistent competitiveness – even after a shocking swoon like 2022’s league campaign – simplified the offseason work in front of Craig Waibel, Lagerwey’s successor. The Rave Green still deserve a nod for reeling in Héber from NYCFC to bolster their front-line depth, especially with Raúl Ruidíaz often limited by injuries and international call-ups. The Brazilian has bagged two goals in 247 Sounders minutes and is developing promising chemistry with his fellow attackers.
Best loan move: Richy Ledezma, New York City FC
Given their recent pedigree, NYCFC looked rather rough in the season’s opening weeks. Yet the arrivals of James Sands (back from his loan at Rangers), Santi Rodríguez (back from Montevideo City Torque, this time permanently) and a savvy deal to bring in Ledezma – an elite US youth international prospect – from PSV Eindhoven have provided a vital infusion of talent to right the ship. After many months of injury woes in the Netherlands, Ledezma has settled with startling speed, earning a starting central-midfield role that’s had the beneficial knock-on effect of allowing Rodríguez to be tried out as a false No. 9, with encouraging early results.
Best use of MLSy mechanisms: Nicholas Gioacchini, St. Louis CITY SC
Somewhat like Seattle, we’ve set aside 2023 debutants St. Louis due to the unique challenges and opportunities posed by the expansion process, a blank slate that many incumbent clubs can only wish for. As Commissioner Don Garber recently noted, “it’s way easier to be new than it is to be improved.”
Yet we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out how well CITY SC seem to have done with some of the less-sexy aspects of that – in this case, the Expansion Draft. Many clubs have used it primarily to horse trade for assets to be leveraged elsewhere. STL grabbed Gioacchini, a starting-caliber striker with several US men’s national team caps and goals despite being just 22, from Orlando City.
Gioacchini has bagged 3g/1a in 594 minutes, tied for second on the team’s scoring chart. Not bad!
Best rebuild: Houston Dynamo FC
Ben Olsen has shown he’s got more than just “Bennyball” in his locker since taking over in Htown, with La Naranja playing some attractive soccer spearheaded by the reinvigorated Héctor Herrera. The roster remodeling overseen by Pat Onstad has also been influential.
French signing Amine Bassi has been a creative presence and leads the team in scoring with five goals (and even if four of those are penalty kicks, well, converting from the spot is a skill, too), and Paraguayan loan capture Ivan Franco has been bright on the opposite flank.
Proven MLS vets Artur and Franco Escobar have been solid regulars, and Real Salt Lake ex Tate Schmitt – whose rights cost the Dynamo just a third-round pick in next year’s SuperDraft – is a surprising backline contributor so far.
And then Houston capped it all off with a seven-figure head-turner, utilizing MLS’s U22 Initiative to snare Nigerian youth international Ibrahim Aliyu from Croatian club NK Lokomotiva just before the window closed. The 21-year-old forward is more of a project, but carries high upside and an injection of young blood for the team.
The not so good
Few goals, bad vibes
Many thought RBNY were poised to make a big step forward in year three under Gerhard Struber, especially after they dropped a pallet of cash on new DP striker Dante Vanzeir. Unfortunately, it’s been more like a faceplant thus far.
Only stragglers Sporting KC and CF Montréal have scored fewer than the Red Bulls’ six goals in nine games. No one on the roster has scored more than once, which is how many their winter acquisitions Vanzeir and Elias Manoel have, while their fellow newcomer Cory Burke has yet to hit the scoresheet at all.
Then there’s the ugly incident involving Vanzeir’s use of a racial epithet in a match vs. the San Jose Earthquakes earlier this month, which caused a fine, a six-game suspension and a rift with his teammates that will be difficult to heal in the months ahead, to say the least.
A ship becalmed
Costly injuries, poor form and a troubling sense of stasis have made for a rough start (2W-5L-2D) to 2023 in the Rose City. Headline signing Evander is among those to have spent time on the training table, limiting the Brazilian playmaker to four starts. March arrival Franck Boli scored on his debut but has been relatively quiet since.
Free-agent reinforcement Eric Miller has been a useful depth piece in defense, though PTFC tried and failed to swing a deal for a center back before the window closed. That’s about it as far as their winter business goes. Which suggests that GM Ned Grabavoy and recent technical director hire Jack Dodd have work to do come summer.
Two of the busiest teams in the final stages of the Primary Window were Montréal and Toronto FC, a sign that neither of the Canadian Classique rivals are where they want to be in terms of results or rosters.
For CFM, the story remains one of enormous roster churn. Kamal Miller, Kei Kamara, Joaquín Torres, Ismael Kone, Alistair Johnston, Djordje Mihailovic and former head coach Wilfried Nancy are headline departures over the past several months. And even sustained wheeling and dealing by VP & chief sporting officer Olivier Renard – George Campbell, Aaron Herrera, Ilias Iliadis, Jules-Anthony Vilsaint, Gabriele Corbo, Bryce Duke and Ariel Lassiter are among the inbound – has not fully patched the gaps. The stylistic contrast between Nancy and his replacement Hernan Losada is also an ongoing concern.
Over in Ontario, Bob Bradley’s latest project has not taken flight in the manner expected, centering on the lingering challenge of balancing a top-heavy roster graced by the excellent but injury-prone Lorenzo Insigne and his fellow Italian Federico Bernardeschi. Picking up MLS know-how in the form of Matt Hedges, Sean Johnson and Brandon Servania made a lot of sense, and late-breaking trades for Aimé Mabika and CJ Sapong might fall into that category in the coming weeks.
But the pieces just aren’t fitting together at the moment, even if some credit is due to TFC (1W-2L-6D) for gutting out several draws that probably would’ve been losses last year. Both they and Montréal must come to grips with difficult situations in the months ahead.
