Toronto FC, Canada midfielder Osorio reach long-term deal
Toronto FC and midfielder Jonathan Osorio have agreed to a three-year contract through 2025 with an option for 2026. Osorio was a free agent after his contract expired at the end of the 2022 season. He is the club's all-time leader in appearances (318).
Austin FC sign striker Zardes in free agency
Austin FC have signed striker Gyasi Zardes to a long-term deal, taking him off the free-agent market. The 31-year-old joins the Verde & Black through the 2025 MLS season with an option for 2026. He was previously on the Colorado Rapids after a midseason trade from the Columbus Crew.
Philadelphia Union's Tanner named 2022 MLS Sporting Executive of the Year
Philadelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner is the 2022 MLS Sporting Executive of the Year, the league announced in Monday's 2022 Mark Abbott MLS Club Awards release. Philadelphia have been near the top of the East since Tanner took over toward the end of the 2018 season. The Union won their first-ever trophy in 2020 (Supporters' Shield), advanced to the Concacaf Champions League semifinals in 2021 and made their first-ever MLS Cup final in 2022.
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We don’t have a clear picture of the offseason yet. Right now all we can see is a fuzzy outline of what’s happening. We’re a forensic investigator on a CBS show screaming “ENHANCE!” at a blurry image waiting for everything to magically come into focus.
Unfortunately, we can’t just hit the enhance button. We have to patiently wait for things like transfer windows to begin in Europe and World Cups to end and Tom Bogert to tweet something out on Mastodon and someone to explain what anything related to Mastodon actually means because seriously I really don’t understand Mastodon. But we can still see that some teams have already made moves for self-improvement in this offseason. Maybe some self destructive tendencies will appear as we get deeper into the winter, but for now we can assume that their roster is a little better on paper than it was at the end of the season. Here’s who’s already on the way up.
Here’s how confident I am that Wilfried Nancy will have this group humming by some point in 2023. I didn’t even have to think about whether or not I’d have the Crew on this list.
If you were looking solely at their roster moves, you’d be surprised to see them here. They sent Artur to Austin, lost Pedro Santos and Derrick Etienne Jr. to free agency and yeah, it would be nice to see them start to make some moves that will not only replace those players but fit into Nancy’s system sooner rather than later. But I’m confident that the Crew will get those moves done. And I’m confident that Nancy will have this group firing whether or not they replace those guys in the next couple of months.
Garth Lagerwey is in charge. You should know by now how pretty much everyone around the league feels about that. But Atlanta also made a smart move to pick up Derrick Etienne Jr. in free agency and get the kind of dynamic winger who can move off the ball that they’d been lacking.
That’s not to say they’ve had a perfect offseason. Before Lagerwey arrived, they made a few moves that were probably a bit too close to maintaining the status quo for Atlanta fans. A new contract for Brooks Lennon and extending Matheus Rossetto’s contract will make it that much harder to find roster flexibility as Atlanta try to rejoin the top of the league. Those moves may pay off in the long run, but there’s just not a lot of room for Atlanta to maneuver right now.
The Timbers made the biggest player acquisition of the offseason so far by signing attacking midfielder Evander from Midtjylland. His reported $10 million transfer fee makes him one of the 10-most expensive transfers in MLS history, and expectations will be high for him to immediately make an impact.
No one will be surprised if he does exactly that though. Evander picked up 50 goals and 38 assists in 167 appearances across all competitions over his five years with Midtjylland, including five goals and seven assists in European competition. He’s a relatively proven commodity. And, on paper, he’s set to thrive in Portland.
They haven’t taken a major leap forward but they’re still moving in the right direction. Gyasi Zardes immediately makes them better at striker and with the kind of service he should get in Austin, we could plausibly see a little bit of a renaissance in 2023.
Not that he struggled in 2022. We’re still talking about a player with double-digit goals last season. This is the kind of move that can go a long way toward keeping Austin from facing a dropoff from a magical second season.
I’m admittedly a bit worried we’re talking more about quantity than quality here. But we’re definitely talking about one of the league’s most active teams so far. They made a smart move to grab goalkeeper Tyler Miller in free agency. That should solve a problem they faced last year called: The worst goalkeeping season in MLS history. I’m not kidding.
They also added wingback Pedro Santos, center back Derrick Williams and defender Mohanad Jeahze from Sweden's Hammarby IF on a TAM deal. Santos and Williams are experienced MLS players and, while we don’t know too much about Jeahze, we’ll operate for now under the assumption that adding TAM players is a good thing.
D.C. feel far from done too. It feels like they’re angling for some version of “all in” while they have Wayne Rooney in charge. That could manifest in about a million different ways that range from “immediate success” to “back-to-back Wooden Spoons,” but for now we’ll say that they’re improving by the day.
Minnesota United claim Canada defender Henry off waivers: Minnesota United FC have claimed Canadian international defender Doneil Henry off waivers. The 29-year-old affords Minnesota crucial center-back depth as they look to build off a fourth straight Audi MLS Cup Playoffs appearance. The Loons return Michael Boxall and Brent Kallman as key starters, while Bakaye Dibassy is recovering from reparative surgery on a ruptured quadricep tendon in his right leg.
PSV Eindhoven interested in Austin FC homegrown Wolff: Austin FC midfielder Owen Wolff is on the radar of Eredivisie giants PSV Eindhoven and could move this winter, according to a report from Dutch outlet Eindhovens Dagblad. Wolff, entering his age-18 season, had one assist in 24 appearances (11 starts) last campaign as Austin made the Western Conference Final in the Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs. He often played central midfield alongside veterans like Alex Ring and Sebastian Driussi.
- Jonathan Sigal explained why the internet is talking about Gio Reyna.
- Damir Kreilach is relishing an “incredible moment” for Croatia.
- John Herdman says that Canada must play "big nations" in buildup to 2026 World Cup.
Good luck out there. Find somewhere new to fit in.
