MLS Takes Center Stage with League Cup Domination & Key Additions
A couple of Weeks after the All Star Game where MLS spanked Mexico’s Liga MX in both the skills comp and the All Star game itself – for the first time (for both) – the MLS has now spanked Liga MX in the Opening Rounds of the Leagues Cup between the two leagues over the past two weeks setting up the Quarters Aug 18 & 19. Now the Signing of 3 huge players how New MLS Stars Atletico Madrid’s Rodrigo De Paul, Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller and Tottenham’s Son will impact their Teams. (read more below)
Can Wrexham Continue the Climb in the Championship? Starts Saturday
Another Championship season begins this weekend and there are plenty of storylines to keep an eye on. Will Wrexham make it four promotions in a row to give their Hollywood-celebrity owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney their Premier League dream? How about Tom Brady and Birmingham City? Can relegated trio Leicester City, Ipswich Town, and Southampton bounce back up to the top flight at the first time of asking? Full Championship Previews below including how American’s like this summer’s forwards Patrick Agyemang (Derby County), and Damion Downs (Southampton), along with more experienced US forwards Dike (West Brom), Haji Wright (Conventry City) and of course one of the leading scorers in the league last season Josh Sargent player of the year at Norwich will fare. The Addition of Wrexham should bring some well needed attention to the Championship and the American’s who play there.
Brazil Wins Copa America In Shoot-out over Colombia 5-4
Wow what a game between Brazil and Colombia in the Copa America Final – a 4-4 thriller that went to extra time and then PKs before Brazil pulled off the victory behind who else Marta. Marta scored in Extra time to knot it up and send it to over time. Copa Highlights
US Men vs #17 Japan in Columbus on Tues. Sept 9th – Discount Tix Available
The US men are coming to Columbus, Ohio Lower.com Field on Tuesday night Sept 9th for a 7:30 pm match up with #17 ranked Japan. The Ole Ballcoach is going along with some buddies to the game sitting in section 129 ($50) – close to the American Outlaws who will be in the Nordic Section 127. Visit http://ussoccer.spinzo.com/CarmelFC this special link to get discounted tickets. Let me know if you plan to join – feel free to send on to friends. I for one was sick of seeing US fans outnumbered all summer long in our own stadiums. Let’s prove Columbus and Cincy are the HOME STADIUMS of US Soccer – this is where US Fans will not be outnumbered! Join me in the trek to Columbus to fight for our Red, White and Blue! Reach out to the Ole Ballcoach at shanebestsoccer@gmail.com if you want to coordinate travel plans.
Congrats to all of our Carmel FC and former CFC players and everyone making High School teams this week. Superproud of everyone who tried out. Not easy to make a team with 4500 kids in a school.
LEAGUES CUP four MLS vs. LIGA MX quarterfinals from August 19-20.
Quarterfinal matchups
- Seattle Sounders FC (MLS 1) vs. Club Puebla (LIGA MX 4)
- Inter Miami CF (MLS 2) vs. Tigres UANL (LIGA MX 3)
- LA Galaxy (MLS 3) vs. CF Pachuca (LIGA MX 2)
- Orlando City (MLS 4) vs. Toluca FC (LIGA MX 1)
TV GAME SCHEDULE
Fri Aug 8
2 pm ESPN+ Chelsea vs Bayer Leverkusen
3 pm CBSSN Birmingham City (Tom Brady) vs Ipswich Town
8 pm Golazo, Para+ Houston Dash vs NC Courage NWSL
10 pm Amazon Prime Utah Royals vs KC Current
Sat Aug 9
7:30 am CBSSN Coventry City vs Hull City
7:30 am CBS Golazo, Para+ Southampton vs Wrexham
10 am Para+ Norwich City (Stewart) vs Millwall
12 ESPN NY/NJ Gotham vs Washington Spirit NWSL
12:30 pm CBS Golazo Sheffield United vs Bristol City
7 pm ESPN+ Detroit City vs Indy 11
7:30 PM Ion Orlando Pride vs Racing Louisville
7:30 pm Apple Free Montreal vs Atlanta
10 pm Ion San Diego Wave vs Angel City
8:45 pm FS1 Kansas City vs San Diego MLS
Sun, Aug 10
10 am ESPN+? Crystal Palace (Richards) vs Liverpool Community Shield
2 pm CBS Chicago Red Stars vs Bay FC NWSL
4 pm CBS Portland Thorns vs Seattle Reign
6 pm Apple Free Cincy vs Charlotte
8 pm Apple Free Orlando vs Inter Miami
10 pm FS1, Apple LA Galaxy vs Seattle Sounders MLS
Tues, Aug 12
2 pm Para+ Wrexham vs Hull City
2 pm Para+ Watford vs Norwich City (Sargent)
Wed, Aug 13
2:30 pm Para+ PSG vs Tottenham EUFA Super Cup
2:50 pm Para+ Birmingham City (Tom Brady) vs Sheffield United
7:30 pm Para+ Philly vs NY Red Bulls US Open Cup QF
Fri, Aug 15 EPL Starts
12 noon ESPN+ Grobaspach vs Bayer Leverkusen German Cup
3 pm USA Liverpool vs Bournemouth (Adams)
8 pm Amazon Prime Washington Spirit (Rodman) vs Racing Louisville NWSL
10 pm CBS Golazo Utah Royals vs Angel City (Thompsons) NWSL
Sat, Aug 16
7:20 am Para+ Wrexham vs West Brom
7:30 am USA Aston Villa vs New Castle United
10 am USA Brighton vs Fulham (Robinson)
12:30 pm NBC Wolverhampton vs Man City
1:30 pm ESPN2 Mallorca vs Barcelona
2:30 pm ESPN+ Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich
4 pm CBS KC Current vs Orlando Pride (Marta) NWSL
7 pm ESPN+ Loundon vs Indy 11
7:30 pm ION NC Courage vs Portland Thorns NWSL
8 pm FS1 Minn vs Seattle Sounders
9 pm ESPN2 Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Phoenix Rising
10 pm ION Bay FC vs San Diego Wave NWSL
Sun, Aug 17
6:50 am Para+ Ipwich Town vs Southampton
9 am USA Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (Richards)
11:30 am NBC Man United vs Arsenal
3 pm Para+ AC Milan (Pulisic) vs Bari Copa Italia
3:30 pm ESPN2 Espanyol vs Athletico Madrid (Cardoso)
4 pm Para+? NY Gothem vs Houston Dash NWSL
Mon, Aug, 18
3 pm USA Leeds United vs Everton
?? FS1 Leagues Cup MLS vs Liga MX
10 pm CBSSN Seattle Reign vs Chicago Red Stars NWSL
Tues Aug 19
?? FS1 Leagues Cup MLS vs Liga MX
Sat, Sept 6 ??
5 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Korea
Tues, Sept 9
7:30 pm TNT, Tele, Max USA Men vs Japan in Columbus, Ohio
Fri, Oct 10
8:30 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Ecuador
Tues, Oct 14
9 pm TNT, Max USA Men vs Australia
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USA
Tim Weah heads to Marseille on loan
Report: Napoli target USMNT midfielder Yunus Musah for transfer
USMNT 2026 World Cup Big Board 1.0: Early picks for Pochettino’s team
Captain America’s new kicks: Christian Pulisic and Puma launch ‘Never Stop’ cleats
USWNT falls to #2 in FIFA world rankings
Report: USWNT set to take on Portugal in an October friendly hosted in Philadelphia
EPL & England
Ian Darke’s 2025-26 Premier League preview: Chelsea to contend? Will Man United rebound? ESPN
Premier League Preseason Hype rankings: Which 10 stars are generating the most buzz?
Premier League preseason: Club-by-club fixtures, kick-off times, results
Community Shield will tell us whether Liverpool are the team to beat
O’Hanlon: Why Liverpool are spending big after winning Premier League
Leaving Liverpool: Luis Diaz is a big gamble for Bayern Munich
Can Wrexham’s Hollywood fairytale continue in Championship, or is rude awakening ahead?
📰 Today’s Wrexham news: Championship return, Broadhead back?
Reffing
Love Tori Penso – from St Pete – Great Ref
How was this not a Red Card in Copa Women’s Final?
Red Card on Miami’s Falcone Really?
This was NOT a HandBall
Red Card or Not – Dogso?
GoalKeeping
Best Saves Match Day 27 MLS
Best Saves Match Day 26 MLS
How to Throw like Neuer
Hampton threw away Spain GK’s notes in shootout
Ter Stegen breaks his silence with statement after controversy
Report – €30M Rated Inter Milan Target Rejects PSG Contract Offer As Man City & Bayern Munich Keen
Inter and Italy goalkeepers nominated for Yachine Trophy at 2025 Ballon d’Or
Official – Inter Milan Star Included In Ten-Player Shortlist For FIFA Ballon D’Or Lev Yashin Trophy
OFFICIAL: U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner returning to New England on loan from Lyon
Carmel FC Goalkeeping Training Should Kick Back off Next Monday at Shelbourne Fields @ 6 pm with former CHS and College Goalkeeper Erin Baker along with me.
MLS
How New MLS Stars De Paul, Muller and Son will impact their Teams
Son Addition huge for LAFC
Orlando City vs. Inter Miami: Keys to Sunday Night Soccer
Leagues Cup Quarter Finals Set
News from abroad
Heading overseas, let’s break down the news.
Weah joins Marseille
Tim Weah has officially joined Marseille after terms were finally agreed with Juventus. The deal is a €1 million dollar loan for the coming season followed by a €14 million obligation to buy and €3 million in bonuses. There is also a sell-on clause.George Weah has accompanied his son to Marseille for the announcement (Weah’s medical is on Wednesday). The elder Weah made the final stop of his European career at Marseille.Overall, it’s a great move for Weah because Marseille is spending money on him that reflects an intent to play him. Hopefully he returns to the wing, where he is better, but he should be ready to help on several levels.
Minimal movement with Reyna
Gio Reyna is still in limbo as Borussia Dortmund are insisting on €11 million and Parma raised their last offer to €8 million but are reluctant to go higher. Reyna is seen as a nice piece for Parma but is not critical.
Chances are the deal still gets completed but time jeopardizes everything. There is always the risk that Parma moves on and finds another player. The fact that no other offers are knocking suggests that Reyna really needs to get this deal done or else he is in the abyss.
Musah struggling with form amid Napoli rumors
Thus far in Milan’s preseason, Yunus Musah’s form has simply not been good. He’s struggled with bad turnovers and his final product continues to lag. A goal in a 9-0 romp over Perth Glory doesn’t change that. Now there are reports that Napoli is back in play for Musah. Napoli was in the hunt for Musah earlier in the summer but later walked away from the high price tag.Why would Napoli get back into the market if Musah isn’t playing well? The likely reason is that Napoli believes they can get him at a lower price. If Musah appears to be falling out of favor at Milan, Milan can’t ask a lot for him and might simply want to take what they can get and move on. If Musah stays and hardly plays, his value will be very low in January.
There is also interest from Nottingham Forest, but Musah might not be seen as a starter at Forest. He might prefer staying in Italy.
Lund loaned to Koln
Kristoffer Lund, 23, has moved to FC Koln on a season-long loan from Palermo that includes an option to buy. The left back will now join the newly promoted Bundesliga club and finally get his taste of being in a top five league.
Lund is coming off a Serie B season with Palermo where his playing time became more sporadic in the second half of the season. This is a good move because it gets him out of a stagnating situation.For the national team, he’s been out of favor under Pochettino who didn’t even include him on the preliminary roster for the Nations League. At this point, getting into the picture for the World Cup seems unlikely.But it’s a good move. The big question is whether Koln will play in a way that allows him to get forward into the attack. Newly promoted teams can struggle.
2.Bundesliga gets underway
In the 2.Bundesliga opening weekend, the biggest game from an American perspective was Paderborn’s 2-1 win over Holstein Kiel. What was peculiar about this game is that John Tolkin played well at left back in the loss while Santiago Castaneda didn’t play well in the win. lot is on the line for both American players as Tolkin is on the bubble of the USMNT and needs to play well to move inside. Despite the loss, he should thrive in the 2.Bundesliga and be among the best left backs in the league.
Castaneda, 20, is hoping to build off a season where he moved from a fringe player on the border of the professional level to a solid 2.Bundesliga player for a good team. The defensive midfielder from Tampa is still mostly unknown but another good season could put him into a place where he starts to gain a lot attention.
Also in the 2.Bundesliga, Greuther Furth defeated Dynamo Dresden 3-2. Max Dietz went the full 90 minutes in the win while Julan Green was subbed out in the 90th minute. The former USMNT attacker created a number of chances in the win.
Newly promoted Arminia Bielefeld defeated Fortuna Dusseldorf 5-1 after Fortuna was reduced to 10 players in the first half. Arminia’s American captain Mael Corboz assisted on the team’s first goal. New Jersey-born forward Isaiah Young subbed into the game in the 86th minute for Arminia.
Johann Gomez played the last 31 minutes for Eintracht Braunschweig in a 1-0 away win over Magdeburg.
Belgium: Yow & Reynolds stand out
In Belgium, Westerlo defeated Zulte Waregem 3-1 with both right back Bryan Reynolds and right wing Griffin Yow both impressing after an ugly 5-2 loss to Anderlecht in the season opener.
The two combined nicely on the opening goal in the first minute when Reynolds won the initial ball and Yow showed fantastic skill in a direct play forward before scoring. Yow was just 3/10 in passing in his 60 minutes but had three shots and a goal.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/1lgTXOCaJMo?si=BTZTeg545UMUILt2
Both players are potentially on the move but time is getting short. Westerlo would love to cash in as both players have reached their top value at a small club such as Westerlo.
Eintracht wraps up USA tour
Eintracht Frankfurt wrapped up its preseason tour and the club featured four American players.
Marvin Dills scored in the team’s 5-2 win over Louisville and impressed. But as a 2007-born player, he is still in the youth system but don’t rule out a loan or maybe even a Bundesliga debut later in the year.
Timmy Chandler is wrapping up his career and is on a one-year deal. He almost seems like an player/coach at this point.
Nene Brown dumped cold water on any potential USA call-up in the near future. He is focused on life with Germany’s U-21 team and their full national team after that.
Paxten Aaronson is coming off a great loan from FC Utrecht – who would love to have him back for another year. At one point Dino Toppmöller seemed to indicate Aaronson was in his plans, but the preseason rotation doesn’t make that clear.
Other game notes
James Sands went 90 minutes for St. Pauli in a 2-2 draw with Coventry. He’s a player who has a better chance of making the USMNT World Cup team that many are overlooking. Sands spoke about this after the game.
“The World Cup is a big dream of mine, especially because it’s taking place in the US,” Sands told St. Pauli’s website. “It would be great to be a part of it, but there’s a long way to go. I’m focusing on making a good start to the season. I want to grow as a player, it’s the reason I moved to the Bundesliga. The standard is higher here and I’ll have a better chance of being called up to the national team if I get a lot of playing time. There are lots of good players in the States, but I think I have a good chance.”
Johnny Cardoso made his first appearance for Atletico on Sunday when he played the second half of a 1-0 loss to Porto (with the goal coming at the end of the first half).
The reviews from the local media were very positive for Cardoso who played the pivot very well as he won possession and got the ball into the attack. All of this bodes very well for Cardoso having a starting role at the beginning of the La Liga season.
Tanner Tessmann played 81 minutes for Lyon in a 2-1 preseason loss to Bayern. Now wearing the No. 6 for the club, it was a good shift for Tessmann who looks like a starter heading into the Ligue 1 season.
Rokas Pukstas played the final 11 minutes for Hajduk Split in its 2-1 win over Istra 1961 in the HNL opener. The club as a new coach, but Pukstas is still not playing much and it is a concern for the once highly rated USYNT player.
Cameron Carter-Vickers wore the captain’s armband for Celtic in its Premiership opening 1-0 win over St. Mirren. Nothing too much to take away other than Celtic controlled the game. Auston Trusty, meanwhile, only was subbed into the game in the second half and came in as a left back.
Matthew Hoppe scored for SonderjyskE in a 3-2 win over Nordsjaelland – coming off the bench in the 60th minute and breaking a 1-1 draw in the 69th minute. Ever since his breakout for Schalke as a teenager, his career has been adrift – with unsuccessful stops in Spain, the USA, Middlesbrough – before trying to reboot himself in Denmark with a small Superliga team in SonderjyskE.
For Wrexham to reach Premier League, they must survive tough Championship first
Ryan O’HanlonAug 8, 2025, 04:30 AM ET ESPN
After Wrexham won their third successive promotion — the first-ever team in the history of organized English soccer to do so — their billionaire, superhero co-owner had a message for the haters.
“I remember the first time I did a press conference there,” Ryan Reynolds said, “and one of the media people asked me, ‘How far do you think this dream goes?’ And I said, ‘Well, we’re going to take this team to the Premier League,’ and they laughed and even the players laughed. But they’re not laughing now. We’re in the Championship.”
Ever since the “Deadpool” star paired with Rob Mac — formerly Rob McElhenney of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” — to buy the club in 2021 and turned the experience into a docuseries, they’ve been talking about the Premier League.
“We say this all the time, but we want to be in the Premier League, as crazy as that sounds to some people,” Reynolds told ESPN in 2023. “If it is theoretically possible to go from the fifth tier in professional football to the Premier League, why wouldn’t we do that? Why wouldn’t we use our last drop of blood to get there? We’re in it for the ride. This is a multi-decade project.”
They’re not the only ones talking about it, either. Earlier this year, NPR’s “Morning Edition” ran a segment that not only suggested Wrexham will one day make the Premier League, but that they’ll eventually host Real Madrid for a Champions League match.
Now, I’m guilty, too. Back when they earned promotion from the National League to League Two, I wrote a piece with the following headline: “Could Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham honestly ever reach Premier League?” And, well, they are one season away from promotion to the Premier League, as they will make their Championship debut on Saturday against Southampton. But they’re also one season away from relegation to League One.
While they’ve mostly been able to overpower their lower-league opponents with brute-force spending, the club now face an altogether different kind of challenge in England’s second tier. For the first time since Reynolds and Mac took over, Wrexham are going to be serious underdogs on and off the field.
What happens when you’re promoted to the Championship?
Over the past 12 seasons, 36 clubs have been promoted from League One up to the Championship. Here’s what happened to each one after a season:
• Stayed up: 25 (69%)
• Relegated: 10 (28%)
• Promoted: 1 (3%)
If we go off the base rates, then it’s nine times more likely that a promoted club to the Championship gets relegated back down to League One than it gets promoted to the Premier League. Except, if you squint hard enough, you can see some similarities between Wrexham and the only team that made the leap in one season.
Under first-time manager Kieran McKenna, Ipswich Town were promoted from League One in 2022-23 after finishing second with 98 points and a plus-66 goal differential. The following season, they were then promoted from the Championship after finishing second with 96 points and a plus-35 goal differential.
Wrexham, of course, were promoted from League One in 2023-24 after finishing second with 88 points and a plus-37 goal differential. And then this past season, they won promotion again with 92 points and a plus-33 goal differential.
Except, Wrexham don’t want to pull an Ipswich. They said as much to ESPN’s Joey Lynch during their tour of Australia this past month.
“I have no doubt we can arrive at Premier League at some point,” Wrexham CEO Michael Williamson said, “but what I want to make sure is that we’re future-proofing so that when we arrive there, we’re able to stay there and that we don’t just come falling crashing back down like you’ve seen other clubs do.”
In the Premier League this past season, Ipswich won four games, ended the season with a minus-46 goal differential and finished 19th.
Why is the Championship so different?
Since the league itself is relatively popular and one good-to-great season puts you in the Premier League, Championship clubs both have way more money to spend than League One clubs and they spend a higher proportion of their money than any other league in the world.
For the 2023-24 season, per data from Kieron O’Connor’s Swiss Ramble, Premier League clubs made £317.5 million on average, while Championship clubs took in £39.9 million and League One teams reported revenues of £9.4 million. For the same season, Premier League clubs spent £289.5 million on transfer fees and wages, Championship clubs clocked in at £48 million and League One clubs spent £9.8 million.
What that means is that Premier League teams spent 95% of what they made and League One teams were essentially putting all their revenue (101%) back into wages. With a handful of Premier League teams not really at risk of relegation but also not in contention for a title, it makes some financial sense that not everyone is maxing out their competitive spending. In League One, everyone is trying to avoid relegation and eventually get promoted, so a little more money gets poured back into player costs.
Well, in the Championship, spending on wages and transfer fees made up a whopping 121% of revenue. With an average revenue increase of nearly £280 million between the top-flight and second-tier teams, clubs are not trying to make year-on-year profits in the Championship. They’re doing whatever it takes to get promoted, season after season. And the promotion structure — with two clubs automatically going up and the next four in the table fighting it out in a playoff — makes it so more than half of the clubs in the league can convince themselves that they’re just a season away from the Premier League.
On top of all that, the finances in the Championship are way more unequal than they are in League One. Since teams relegated from the Premier League get a succession of parachute payments in the years following their demotion, the teams at the top of the Championship can carry way more expensive rosters than the just-promoted clubs down at the bottom.
In 2023-24, the highest revenue recorded by a Championship club was £127.6 million and the lowest was £16.6 million. In League One, the difference was between £21.3 million and £5.8 million. It’s a similar story with wage spending. In the Championship, the high was £107 million and the low was £12.9 million. In League One, the difference was between £22 million and £4 million.
In the Championship, then, the biggest payroll is more than eight times more expensive than the smallest wage bill. In League One, it’s an increase of about five and a half.
So, what does it mean for Wrexham and the Premier League?
It will be a while until we have access to Wrexham’s true finances for this upcoming season, but multiple studies have found that the crowd-sourced transfer valuations at Transfermarkt serve as a very accurate proxy for a team’s wage bill. And that, in turn, is a rough proxy for a team’s talent level.
So far this summer, Wrexham have signed eight players for fees totaling to an estimated €12.8 million. Among them: former England international Conor Coady, former Premier League striker Kieffer Moore, former Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward and former Premier League midfielder Lewis O’Brien.
Since June 1 — when the transfer window briefly opened for two weeks — the transfer value for Wrexham’s squad has increased by 110.3%, the second-highest mark in the league.
The result of more than doubling the value of their squad in just two months? Wrexham currently have the 21st-most valuable roster in a league with 24 teams.
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Their team is worth €28.7 million. The Championship average club has a roster valued at €70.8 million. The most valuable roster, Leicester City, is worth €208.1 million, while the other two clubs just relegated from the Premier League, Southampton and Ipswich Town, have rosters valued at more than €180 million.
The reality is that Wrexham’s roster isn’t close to seriously competing for promotion. Of course, this is soccer, and weird stuff happens every season. It’s a lot easier to bounce up to sixth than first, and once you’re in the promotion playoff, anything can happen. But we just haven’t seen this club outsmart its opponents and be efficient with its spending yet. Wrexham have been one of the richest teams with one of the most expensive rosters in every other league in which they’ve competed.
In fact, the only team we’ve seen them be at a significant financial disadvantage to was Birmingham City in League One this past season. Wrexham finished 19 points and 20 goals behind Birmingham this past season. They were closer to not getting promoted than they were to catching Birmingham and based on Transfermarkt’s estimates, summer spending by Birmingham has increased their roster value by €40 million. Even with that, five other Championship teams still have more valuable squads than Birmingham and two others have similarly valuable rosters.
There’s also just not a ton of room for internal improvement at Wrexham, either. Very few players are likely to get better. The average age of their current roster is 27.7 — almost at the tail end of a soccer player’s peak years from 24 to 28. They currently represent the second-oldest team in the Championship, after Derby County who finished this past season in 19th.
So, what might it all mean for this season?
Based on projections from the consultancy Twenty First Group, its simulations expect Wrexham to score 44.9 goals — 22nd-most in the league, 9.6 fewer than league-average — and concede 53.9 goals, good for 11th-fewest in the league and 0.6 fewer than league-average. That’s what Wrexham’s makeup was this past season, too: only Birmingham conceded fewer goals in League One, but seven sides scored more.
And for now, it probably is the right balance. This is an old team that’s still way-too-reliant on a British and Irish player pool. To maximize its chances in the future and find a way to score more goals, the team are going to have to eventually extend their scouting search beyond a couple islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
As currently constituted, though, Wrexham are way more likely to have a successful season by leaning on the defense, rather than risking being too aggressive and ending up with the deadly combination of a bad attack and a bad defense. The latter could raise their ceiling, but the former will raise their floor.
Eliminating as much downside as possible is what they need to do. According to Twenty First Group, Wrexham have a 3.6% chance of being promoted — and a 19% chance of being relegated.
After three successive promotions since Reynolds and Mac took over, success won’t be continued upward movement. No, a successful season for Wrexham is anything that doesn’t send them back down.
MLS vs LIGA MX – Leagues Cup rolls on
Some people love this tournament, others hate it. I like it. Ultimately, it is good that MLS creates an opportunity for its teams to play opponents from outside its own borders. It doesn’t mean there aren’t drawbacks. Going to the well of the USA vs. Mexico rivalry (apologies to Canadian teams) has its limits – and this pushes it.
Also, the new format is a letdown. It was started because Liga MX teams bombed out of the 2024 edition leaving an all-MLS semifinal and final. The 2023 edition was an all-MLS final. The new format ensures four MLS teams and four Liga MX teams are in the quarterfinals.
That is waste. The best teams from the group stages should qualify, regardless of league. I agree that MLS should be capped at 18 teams to match it with Liga MX’s 18 total teams. But the handicapping of standings to ensure as much Liga MX vs. MLS hurts the overall competitiveness.
Anyway, here are some thoughts about 2025 Leagues Cup
Seattle is the class, so far
The Seattle Sounders have been the best team in the tournament through two games. The almost completely unbelievable 7-0 win over Cruz Azul followed by a 2-1 win over Santos Laguna.By now, you’ve seen the Pedro de la Vega goal against Cruz Azul – but I can’t take the chance you haven’t. It’s one of the greatest ever MLS-related goals ever. Fans want a Puskás Award nomination and they might get their wish.But apart from the brilliant strike, what has been most striking about Seattle has been its variety of scoring. They’ve scored nine goals and only one player, de la Vega, has scored twice. The entire team is playing well and the Sounders have a lot of ways that can beat you. This is the team we were predicting them to be in preseason and they’re now hitting that form – despite no Jordan Morris or Paul Arriola.
The question is whether this will translate over to the regular season.
Messi injured as Miami near advancement
Inter Miami has one regulation – a 2-1 win over Atlas – win and one shootout win – after a 2-2 draw with Necaxa- for a total of five points out of a possible six. That’s pretty good even if their defense has been shaky.
But in the Necaxa draw, Lionel Messi was hurt with what is now listed as a “minor muscle injury in his right leg. His medical clearance will depend on his clinical progress and response to treatment.”
The good news for Inter Miami is that the early returns for Rodrigo De Paul are strong.
Still, Miami have a great chance to advance if they can defeat Pumas in regulation by multiple goals.
Standings: Crew & Toluca: In, Big Liga MX: Out
Tuesday saw a few teams play their third game and right now, Columbus ( 7 points) Seattle (6 points), Portland (6 points), and LAFC (6 points) would advance. But the following teams have one game remaining: Miami (5 points), Minnesota (4 points), LA Galaxy (4 points), New York Red Bulls (4 points), Orlando (4 points), Cincinnati (4 points). Theoretically, Real Salt Lake and Colorado are alive at 3 points, but it is unlikely.
Overall, MLS execs are probably going to like their final four – especially if Miami advances.
The Liga MX standings are seeing a wipeout of top teams. Club America, Monterrey, Cruz Azul, and Chivas are already eliminated. Toluca is through and likely Pachuca as well. Tigres is done playing at 6 points. That makes them vulnerable to Juarez, Pumas, and Necaxa.
Arfsten raising game for Crew
Max Arfsten has been playing very well lately for the Crew and on Tuesday night he scored his second goal of the Leagues Cup tournament in a 1-0 win over Leon. Columbus became the first MLS team to secure a quarterfinal spot.
Arfsten has been the subject of transfer rumors and Middlesbrough and Toulouse have both submitted bids. But Columbus does not want to sell Arfsten midseason. But will teams still be interesting in January?
Moving forward it will be important to observe if Arfsten plays more as a winger or as a left back. He is much more effective as a left winger and it also allows him to not be in as many critical defensive positions.
American youth doing well
We’ve seen a lot young American players in MLS take advantage of opportunities at Leagues Cup – which has been promising to see.
Taha Habroune had two assists for Columbus in the 3-1 win over Puebla. Always considered a top prospect, Habroune is finally getting on the field lately and he is making the most of his opportunities over the past six weeks. He is surging into the U-20 World Cup (if Columbus releases him).
Gerardo Valenzuela continues to be an important player for a Cincinnati team that is among the best in the league. The 20 year old from Florida picked up an assist in the 3-2 win over Monterrey and then started in the 2-2 draw with Juarez (which ended in a shootout loss). He’s never been highly rated nor a U.S. youth international, but he’s increasing his stock with good play.
Benja Cremaschi: it was good to see the U.S. U-20 midfielder wear the captain’s armband in the second half of the 2-2 draw (later a shootout win) over Necaxa. On a team full of veteran stars, he is a respected as a youngster. He’s likely the U.S. U-20 captain.
David Vazquez: While San Diego is eliminated, David Vazquez impressed in his first two games for the club. Specifically in the 2-0 win over Mazatlan on Tuesday where he picked up an assist.
Pedro Soma: Also made his debut for San Diego in the win over Mazatlan and he played the final 28 minutes, completing 37/37 passes.
Alex Freeman: the new USMNT right back might be young and adjusting to his first season as a first-team starter, but his athleticism is impressive an makes people believe in his upside. This was a great run out of the back and into the attack for an assist in a 3-1 win over Atlas.
Muller joins Vancouver
Thomas Müller needs no introduction. A World Cup winner with Germany, Müller has 150 Bundesliga goals in 503 appearances all with Bayern Munich. He’s scored 45 goals for Germany in 130 caps. Müller, 35, has now decided to leave Germany and Europe all together and join Vancouver – after all the nonsense such as having to buy his “discovery rights” from Cincinnati for $400,000 in GAM.
Vancouver has been a good team and will now look a lot different with Müller as well as the looming return of Ryan Gauld. Head coach Jesper Sørensen as a lot of pieces, and it won’t be easy to get them to work tougher.But the potential upside is that Vancouver can win MLS Cup with its talent. The downside is that they could just as easily fall on their face.
LAFC signs Son Heung-min
As has been rumored for a long time, Son Heung-min finally signed with LAFC from Tottenham, where he spent the last 10 years.t is a massive move that makes Son one of the most expensive players in the history of MLS.”I’m incredibly proud to be joining LAFC, a club with big ambitions in one of the most iconic sports cities in the world,” Son said. “Los Angeles has such a rich history of champions, and I am here to help write the next chapter.”I’m excited for this new challenge in MLS. I have come to L.A. to lift trophies and give everything for this club, this city, and its fans. I cannot wait to get started.”At first glance, the move seems well worth the investment. On jersey sales and endorsements alone, LAFC will come out a financial winner.On the field, LAFC should only be expected to continue to dominate even after Steve Cherundolo’s final year as the head coach. LAFC is ambitious and this shows that.Meanwhile, LAFC defeated Tigres 2-1 behind a great game from David Martinez. After a win over Club America in the Club World Cup play-in game, LAFC has posted some big wins over Liga MX. But unfortunately, LAFC needs many Liga MX teams to win tonight in order to advance.
But the introduction of Son is the top story of the day, by far.
Championship season preview: Can Wrexham reach the Premier League? Will relegated clubs bounce back?
By The Athletic UK Staff Aug. 8, 2025 12:12 am EDT
Another Championship season begins this weekend and there are plenty of storylines to keep an eye on. Will Wrexham make it four promotions in a row to give their Hollywood-celebrity owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney their Premier League dream? Can relegated trio Leicester City, Ipswich Town, and Southampton bounce back up to the top flight at the first time of asking? Are Sheffield Wednesday already doomed to League One after a summer of chaos off the pitch? And how many managers will Watford get through between now and May?Here, our EFL experts answer all the key questions before the campaign kicks off with Tom Brady’s promoted Birmingham City hosting Ipswich tonight (Friday).
Who will win the Championship title?
Gregg Evans: Ipswich. They look too strong, even with the departure of Liam Delap to Chelsea, and will dominate, most likely from start to finish. Manager Kieran McKenna knows exactly what he’s doing, too.
Richard Sutcliffe: Ipswich have the attacking armoury to bounce straight back up as champions.
Philip Buckingham: I can’t see past Ipswich either. Their ploy of signing the Championship’s best players 12 months ago backfired in the Premier League, but it means they’ve got a squad as strong as any in the second division now. They’ll take some stopping.
Chris Weatherspoon: Ipswich. Last season was pretty much a free hit for them and they’ll bounce back immediately.
Andrew Pigott: Southampton. They have a nice spine to their team, but also the best firepower in the division in Adam Armstrong, Ross Stewart, Ben Brereton Diaz, Cameron Archer and Damion Downs, even if they end up selling Tyler Dibling.
Who will go up automatically in second, and via the play-offs?
Evans: Leicester were dreadful in the Premier League last season but have a squad packed with quality in terms of the second tier. As long as they don’t lose too many more — players or points — they’ll be tough to beat and should go up in second. And I’ve got Wrexham as play-off final winners — they’ve recruited well and will carry momentum from previous seasons into this one. They won’t be strong enough to challenge for automatic promotion, but will be fired up to make a real impact.
Sutcliffe: Birmingham City feel like a good bet to snaffle second place in a division that looks pretty open. As mentioned, Leicester have a possible points deduction hanging over their heads, meaning the play-offs are their most likely route back to the Premier League.
A Birmingham City mural at St Andrew’s featuring minority owner Tom Brady (Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
Weatherspoon: Sheffield United became only the third second-division team ever to amass 90 points — even after a two-point deduction — and not go up automatically last season. Ruben Selles is a better manager than he showed at his last two clubs and will guide them to second. I fancy Coventry City as play-offs winners — they have a nice start, fixtures-wise, and pushed on impressively under Frank Lampard in the second half of last season after Mark Robins’ departure.
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Buckingham: I’ll go with Southampton in second under new coach Will Still. Coventry get the nod to finally go up through the play-offs if they’re able to replicate the form shown after Lampard came in last November.
Pigott: Ipswich will go up in second — they’ve kept together a good core of the team that won promotion two years ago. I see Birmingham as play-off winners. With momentum on their side, plenty of goals and some big signings, it’s hard not to see them passing straight through the Championship.
Who will be relegated?
Pigott: Things look very bleak for Sheffield Wednesday before a ball has even been kicked. Hull City were fortunate not to go down last year, and despite impressing in their first year up after promotion, Oxford United will find it harder this time around.
Evans: Norwich City, Wednesday, Oxford. It’s a very poor second-tier this season and I reckon as many as 10 teams will be nervously looking over their shoulder at various stages. West Bromwich Albion also look like a club heading for trouble.
Sutcliffe: Wednesday, Charlton Athletic, Hull. The latter’s scattergun approach to player and manager recruitment is likely to come home to roost. Newly promoted Charlton have cherry-picked a lot of last season’s League One talent, but the danger with such an approach is ending up with a team that really belongs in the division below.What You Should Read NextHow Sheffield Wednesday descended into chaos under Dejphon Chansiri’s ownershipUnpaid wages, a highly regarded manager on way out and very real fears for the future. A once proud club is on the brink
Buckingham: It’s sad to say, but it already looks as if Wednesday are doomed after a summer that means they’re turning up for a gunfight armed with a water pistol. I’ve also got concerns for Hull, who narrowly avoided the drop last season, but I’ll go with Oxford and Charlton to complete the three. They have decent managers in Gary Rowett and Nathan Jones, but both have shortcomings.
Weatherspoon: Wednesday’s awful off-field summer speaks volumes. Hull nearly dropped down last season and have little to crow about either. After those two, it’s one from as many as 10. Oxford signing young striker Will Lankshear on loan from Tottenham Hotspur could prove crucial in keeping them up. If they survive again, the end of Preston North End’s dreary 11-year stay in this division looms.
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How will Wrexham do?
Sutcliffe: Mid-table. A big rebuild was needed to make last season’s squad Championship-ready, and this is well on track. But it’ll be another couple of windows before they are ready to make a concerted push for Premier League promotion starting this time next year. For now, beating the club’s previous highest-ever league finish, 15th in the old Second Division in 1978-79, is an achievable target.What You Should Read NextWrexham are now a Championship club. Can they be a Premier League one next year?The question is whether their unprecedented summer splurge has sufficiently equipped Wrexham for a division they were last in 43 years ago
Evans: They’ll make a decent impression and kick on. Conor Coady and Kieffer Moore are good signings and I’ve no doubt their spending won’t stop here. Looking forward to another series of Welcome to Wrexham.
Weatherspoon: Outside the play-offs, but inside the top half. It’s easy (some might say mandatory) to dismiss them as a fairytale never too far from crashing into reality, but beneath the Hollywood glitz, there’s a football club in better health than many they’ll face this season. They have momentum after three promotions in a row, but the big question is whether investing in older heads might finally start to falter — and if Phil Parkinson, who has managed over 1,000 games in his career but only 141 as high as this division, has hit his ceiling.
Could Parkinson hit his ceiling in the Championship? (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
Buckingham: Reality will bite this season. I struggle to see them getting near the top six, given the clubs they’re competing against. This is a very different test from the ones Wrexham have repeatedly aced in the past three years. The top half would be a huge achievement.
How will the relegated clubs do?
Weatherspoon: Parachute payments play a huge part here, but there are some quirks to consider. Southampton have an impressive squad on paper but are carrying the mental scars from that 12-point, two-win Premier League season, while Still is going to have a lot of eyes on him. They’ll be up there, through having a high floor. A long-awaited points deduction for Leicester will likely be hefty, albeit not enough to keep them completely away from the promotion discussion. As I said above, Ipswich will win the title.
Sutcliffe: All three will challenge, albeit Leicester’s possible points deduction hangs over the club like a dark cloud. Ipswich’s attack looks strong, and it will be fascinating to see how Still adapts to managerial life in England after making his name in France’s top flight.
Pigott: This is an incredibly unforgiving league and I have a feeling Leicester will find it the hardest of the three. Play-off push for them.
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Evans: They will all finish in the top 10.
How will the promoted clubs do?
Evans: There’s a lot of noise around Birmingham and their push for back-to-back promotions under NFL legend Tom Brady and co is on. Perhaps they’ll make the play-offs and it will be intriguing to see who finishes higher between themselves and Wrexham. It feels like Charlton will struggle. The Valley, in south-east London, is a decent away day, though.What You Should Read NextWhat Tom Brady has taught Birmingham City… and what he thought of Wayne RooneyNew Amazon documentary ‘Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues’ charts the impact the legendary NFL quarterback has had on the English club
Pigott: I’ve been impressed with Charlton’s business. A mixture of solid Championship experience — Amari’i Bell, Reece Burke, goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski, Joe Rankin-Costello — plus players who have shown signs they could handle the step up to the second tier — Charlie Kelman, Rob Apter, Harvey Knibbs and Tanto Olaofe. They’ll have enough to remain in the division.
Weatherspoon: Birmingham, buoyed by their money and momentum, should occupy a play-off spot Wrexham will come to covet. Charlton risk being a ‘Best of League One’ side in the wrong division, but the inadequacies of others will see them just about secure safety.
Which manager will attract Premier League interest?
Pigott: John Mousinho continues to do an excellent job at Portsmouth on a tight budget. Premier League clubs will surely be keeping an eye on his progress.
Evans: At this stage, none of them. If Chris Davies keeps Birmingham on an upward trajectory and flying high, his reputation will continue to grow, but which club could convince him to move on when the project is so exciting at St Andrew’s?
Weatherspoon: I agree with Gregg — possibly none of them. Ipswich’s McKenna remains an obvious candidate, while, at a push, Liam Manning has City Football Group experience and an opportunity to impress at Norwich.
Sutcliffe: It’s difficult to say in a division where 19 of the 24 managers have been appointed in the past 12 months. McKenna has his admirers, but last season was a struggle among the elite.
Player of the season
Evans: Birmingham’s Tommy Doyle. An all-action 23-year-old midfielder with Premier League experience for Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers, he should stand out at this level and could become his team’s heartbeat.
Sutcliffe: Louie Barry, 22, could be an inspired loan signing by Sheffield United. The Aston Villa winger was far too good for both Leagues One and Two as a loanee at Stockport County for a season and a half from summer 2023, but injury ruined his short spell at this level with Hull for the second half of last season.
Barry celebrates scoring for Stockport in League One last season (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Buckingham: Jack Clarke. He is coming off a trying first season with Ipswich in the Premier League, but, boy, was he a star at this level with Sunderland. There were not many better than him in 2023-24, and the 24-year-old is still a winger who can make a fool of most full-backs.
Weatherspoon: Middlesbrough midfielder Hayden Hackney, 23, has turned down a move to Ipswich, though wealthier suitors lurk. If Hackney goes, or even if he doesn’t, 21-year-old midfielder Shea Charles will be a huge part of Southampton’s promotion bid after spending last season on loan in this division at Wednesday.
Pigott: Ronnie Edwards at Southampton. Perhaps signed a year ago with this season back in the Championship in mind, the 22-year-old is an excellent defensive prospect with lots of league experience under his belt already after four seasons with Peterborough United.
Leading goalscorer
Pigott: Mihailo Ivanovic’s record in his debut year at Millwall last season (12 goals in 37 league games, 22 of them starts) was impressive. Left-footed efforts, right-footed ones, penalties, headers in the air and headers on the floor. Still only 20, the Serbian looks a real prospect.
Sutcliffe: Southampton’s Archer, 23, should be in the goals, but 22-year-old Jay Stansfield may well be the player who fires Birmingham back to the Premier League after 15 seasons in the second and, briefly, third divisions.
Buckingham: Sammie Szmodics could do no wrong when last in the Championship with Blackburn Rovers (27 league goals in 2023-24), and the 29-year-old ought to get plenty of opportunities in a potent Ipswich attack.
Evans: Ellis Simms at Coventry. If he stays fit, this could be the season the 24-year-old former Everton striker really kicks on.
Weatherspoon: Most teams in the Championship share their goals around — no player scored 20 in the league last season, despite it being a 46-game regular season. United States international Haji Wright, 27, heads a strong-looking Coventry attack and has got to double figures in each of his two years at the club, even while missing three months in the middle of last season with an ankle injury.
Wright of Coventry could be a contender for top scorer (Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images)
Breakout star
Evans: Jeremy Monga at Leicester. The 16-year-old made his senior debut last season and has all the attributes to develop into a regular.
Pigott: I’m very interested to see how Watford’s 19-year-old winger Nestory Irankunda does. He’s obviously raw at that age, but quick and powerful. The Tanzania-born Australia international could benefit nicely from the creative talent around him at Vicarage Road.
Sutcliffe: Charles enjoyed an exemplary 2024-25 season on loan at Wednesday and the 21-year-old Northern Ireland midfielder will now be looking to make a big impact back at Southampton.
Buckingham: Provided his recovery from November’s season-ending anterior cruciate ligament knee injury goes to plan, this ought to be the year we see Ollie Arblaster really make a name for himself in senior football with Sheffield United — at 21, he’s a midfielder with huge potential.
Weatherspoon: Barry has been talked about as a prospect for so long, he feels older than 22 (here’s The Athletic labelling him Aston Villa’s breakthrough star at the beginning of the 2020-21 season!). He scored goals aplenty in League One in the first half of last season as Stockport chased promotion and at Sheffield United this time, he’ll similarly enjoy playing in a team battling at the top end of a table.
Game you can’t miss
Evans: Birmingham vs Ipswich tonight! Expect an electric atmosphere at St Andrew’s as the newly promoted home side test themselves against the best team in the division.
Pigott: Southampton vs Portsmouth; Sunday, September 14. It’s nearly six years since these bitter south-coast rivals and near-neighbours last met. That’ll be a quiet night at the library.
Buckingham: The Sheffield derbies might be too one-sided to really pique the interest, so I’ll go Swansea City vs Wrexham — an all-Wales affair — on Friday, December 19. The first time the clubs have met since March 2003.
Weatherspoon: The East Anglian derby is usually fun. If Manning can get Norwich ticking, Ipswich’s mid-April trip to Carrow Road will have a lovely mix of local acrimony and promotion jeopardy.
(Top photos: Wrexham owners Rob McElhenney, left, and Ryan Reynolds show off their latest promotion trophy; and Leicester City’s Jeremy Monga; by Getty Images)
Why are U.S. forwards spying opportunity in the Championship?
By Greg O’Keeffe Aug. 8, 2025Updated 7:48 am EDT
At least for USMNT scouting purposes it is a tidy remit: one division, five contenders to fill out the striker spots on the World Cup roster.Expect to see Mauricio Pochettino’s staff glued to videos of games from the English Football League (EFL) Championship in the forthcoming season.The summer transfer window has seen two U.S. international attackers sign for clubs in England’s second tier, joining the three American forwards already there. Damion Downs’ move from Koln in Germany to Southampton, plus Gold Cup star Patrick Agyemang’s switch to Derby County, means they join more experienced USMNT forwards Josh Sargent, Haji Wright and Daryl Dike — whose stint at West Bromwich Albion has been so wrecked by injuries — in the same division.But what is it about the Championship that has attracted the quintet — all of whom, to varying degrees, will still aspire to make Pochettino’s 2026 World Cup squad? And what qualities do they bring that appeal to clubs vying for promotion to the Premier League?What You Should Read NextChampionship season preview: Can Wrexham reach the Premier League? Will relegated clubs bounce back?Our EFL experts make their predictions as English football’s second tier kicks off a new campaign this weekend
The Championship might be second tier, but it is not second rate when it comes to Europe’s most competitive leagues.
Opta’s Power Rankings, published in June and assessing football’s global hierarchy, has the Championship listed sixth in the Top 30 leagues based on their “advanced performance metrics” used to “identify which leagues are home to the highest concentration of elite clubs”.
That is higher than the Dutch, Belgian and Portuguese top flights.
That said, last year The Athletic reported how a data-driven model by Twenty First Group, a sports intelligence firm that advises clubs, leagues and investors, had the Championship ranked 12th.Its World Super League model uses a machine-learning algorithm to generate a single rating for every team in world football. League strength can then be calculated from the average rating of each team.Either way, with its gruelling 46-game season (the Championship has 24 clubs compared with 20 in the Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1, and 18 in the Bundesliga), it represents a formidable challenge. Add to that two domestic cup competitions and Championship players are pushed to their physical limits.
Danny Higginbotham played for a string of English clubs as a defender and featured in the Premier League with Manchester United, Derby County, Stoke City and Southampton. He also made 100 Championship appearances during a 17-year professional career, but now lives in the U.S. where he worked for Philadelphia Union before becoming a match analyst for Major League Soccer broadcasts.
He sees similarities between MLS and the Championship that may make young players from the former attractive to English clubs.“The speed and physicality of MLS is, to a certain extent, increasingly quite similar to the Championship,” says Higginbotham. “It’s probably fair to say the quality is a bit higher in the Championship but there are key qualities they share now.“Recruitment teams in the Championship are seeing that these guys have all the attributes. They’re asking: are they good enough or with their age, can we make them better?“They see that the players are physically and mentally robust. They’re used to the long travel time in MLS, the flights and time differences. Then there’s the extreme weather these days. Plus they play a lot of games too. Factor all this in and they’re probably not going to be as fazed by a 46-game season.
“I feel they’re well placed to acclimatise quickly to the Championship.”
Downs made the switch from German football to the Championship this summer (Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images)
For Downs, who broke into the USMNT picture earlier in the summer and has made five appearances under Pochettino, the number of games he faces at St Mary’s under new manager Will Still is a positive.
“For me to be an option for that (the USMNT World Cup squad) as a striker you need to score goals,” he told Jimmy Conrad and Tony Meola in an interview with CBS Sports Golazo America. “Obviously, you don’t play more games anywhere than in England and that’s a big chance for me.”
MLS clubs are increasingly focused on creating their own homegrown stars, spending time and money on producing elite coaches capable of finding players capable of elevating the league’s standing.What You Should Read NextInside the French coaching course that could propel U.S. soccer into a new stratosphereThe Athletic went to Clairefontaine, French football’s famed training centre, to see the latest set of MLS coaches take ‘the French Course’
“There are some good quality players coming out of MLS academies now,” adds Higginbotham. “You only have to look at the Philadelphia Union and Cavan Sullivan.“If they’re good they are also likely to get opportunities when they’re young in MLS so they have experience of first-team football.“I think as well that the younger players (in MLS) have benefited from the big names going there. Guys like Lionel Messi, Emil Forsberg, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and now Son Heung-min and Rodrigo De Paul. That highly professional elite mentality of these guys, how they prepare and conduct themselves, is rubbing off on the younger American players.”All of which makes those developed in MLS attractive to suitors from Europe. Championship clubs can also find value for money with fees for players from MLS.In July, Derby spent an initial £5.8million ($8m) on Agyemang after the 24-year-old, a native of East Hartford, Connecticut, scored 18 goals and provided six assists in 63 career games with Charlotte. That tally included eight, with two assists, this year before the move to Pride Park. Agyemang has also become one of the bright points for the national team, making all 12 of his appearances in 2025, including playing every game of the Gold Cup.By contrast this summer, Norwich City forked out £6.9m ($9.2m) on Denmark international forward Mathias Kvistgaarden, 23, who scored 23 goals in 38 appearances in all competitions for Brondby in 2024-25.
Then Birmingham City signed 30-year-old former Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi for a reported £10m ($13.4m) after he scored 10 goals in the Scottish Premiership for Celtic before a short-lived move to Stade Rennes in France earlier this year.
Agyemang moved to Derby this summer (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Agyemang has yet to make his Derby debut after undergoing hernia surgery that is likely to see him miss the season’s start, but he is backed to make an impact.“At almost $8m — and that could rise — that’s actually a lot of money for an MLS team,” Higginbotham says of the Agyemang fee. “But he has got something. He is raw but he is a player who is quick, strong and knows how to finish.“Now the question is: can he improve? If he can do that, then Derby could get significantly more than what they paid for him down the line.“You’ve got to imagine that Dean Smith (former Aston Villa manager and now Charlotte FC boss) has assessed that he’s good enough to make that step.”Similar logic may have been behind Downs’ move to the south coast, although the German-U.S. dual national was plying his trade at FC Koln in the second-tier 2 Bundesliga last season, where he delivered 10 goals and three assists.“I see it (moving to the Championship) work with a lot of other players, and Southampton has a great resume of players who have taken the next step with their careers here,” said Downs.“I think I have a great switch of coming short and getting the ball to my feet but also running in behind — giving the defence different things to worry about. And I’m pretty versatile as well. I’m a young player with a lot of stuff I can develop on… with all kinds of things to work on to take my game to the next level.”In an interview with BBC Radio Solent he added: “I think English football is the most attractive you can play so it was a no-brainer for me.“Their (Southampton’s) ambition is to get to the Premier League and stay in the Premier League and that’s something I want to do as well.”
Sargent in action for Norwich against Northampton Town in pre-season (Pete Norton/Getty Images)
The two relative ‘elder statesmen’ of the USMNT roster in England, Sargent at Norwich and Wright at Coventry City, have long since proved to be successful MLS exports to the Championship. Sargent also enjoyed a brief stint in the Premier League.
And Higginbotham thinks their impact, along with the growth of MLS’ popularity around the world, means the flow of talent to the English second division is likely to continue. Another 24-year-old American striker, Max Arfsten, has been mooted as a potential new arrival at Middlesbrough from Columbus Crew during this window.
“With the Apple TV deal, there is greater accessibility to the MLS brand and overseas fans watching these players,” adds Higginbotham. “So I don’t think the optics of signing these players are viewed as a risk so much by fans in England, where maybe they once were. They can tune in and see the quality of the league.”
The hope is that Pochettino’s staff, and everyone invested in the U.S. hopes for progress on home soil next year, will be tuned into Paramount Plus’ coverage of the Championship.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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