MLS Transfers: Who were this year's biggest summer signings? | OneFootball

By Bradley Wright-Phillips

The MLS Secondary Transfer Window has closed, and the final sprint towards the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs is fully underway.

Several contenders made big acquisitions to position themselves for a run at silverware this autumn. Others were less flashy, yet still conducted smart business to improve their squads, in some cases for 2026, with their hopes for this season more or less dashed. And a few clubs elsewhere, well… they weren't so busy.

Here’s my take on the top signings of the summer.

Son Heung-Min

Forward · Los Angeles Football Club

No prizes for guessing who ranks first on this list.

Son is the obvious No. 1 for me, both on the field and off, for what he represents as a player and a person. It’s a simply massive swoop by LAFC, and we’ve already seen the benefits in his first few appearances.

The South Korean superstar wasn’t even match-fit, yet still came off the bench to earn a game-tying penalty kick at Chicago in his debut. Then he produced a lovely assist in his first start, a perfect pass to Mathieu Choinière for the clinching goal vs. New England, when he had every right to be selfish and try to score himself to get off the mark. Last weekend, the Tottenham Hotspur legend whipped a gorgeous free kick into the top corner to open his MLS account at FC Dallas.

Off the field, in commercial terms, it's unbelievable. There’s talk of record-setting jersey sales, and millions of new eyes are on the league because of Son. It's an amazing signing for both LAFC and the league.

Rodrigo De Paul

Midfielder · Inter Miami CF

When you look at Inter Miami, with all that attacking power, you only worry about them defensively. Many observers will tell you they needed some steel, somebody with a willing mentality, some defensive nous and players that will run off the ball. De Paul is a perfect mix of all that.

The World Cup champion is very clever on the ball, a good passer, can connect with teammates, and is smart enough to link up with Lionel Messi & Friends. But defensively, he's a beast. He played 90-plus minutes on his debut, running all over the pitch after not playing a competitive match in weeks, even in that muggy Florida heat. He's slotted into the team seamlessly.

We tend to associate Miami with creative players, often to the point of overemphasizing the front line. Yet pulling off a deal for De Paul, initially on loan from Atlético Madrid with an eye towards a permanent deal next season, addresses their most vulnerable weaknesses in time for the home stretch. It's such a smart signing.

Thomas Müller

Midfielder · Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Over the last few seasons, many have wondered if the Whitecaps needed to go out and add a big star, a high-caliber Designated Player. I was always on the fence, because it's a blue-collar side, and as I said on a recent episode of MLS Wrap-Up, it’s a culture where no one's bigger than the team. You have to buy into what they do as a collective – no privileged superstars, everybody empties the tank.

So any big-name DP would have to match that. And while I’d never really thought about Müller coming to MLS, they couldn’t have found a better person for that assignment. We all know how good the Bayern Munich and German legend is, but he's not too fancy or flashy. He's a winner who will work hard – he covered an astonishing 7.7 miles in his first start, against St. Louis last Saturday, and still had the composure to fire home the game-winning penalty kick deep into injury time.

This move makes so much sense.

Wessam Abou Ali

Forward · Columbus Crew

When you watch Columbus, they're just screaming out for an elite No. 9. I think we saw that from the beginning of the season – when we interviewed Wilfried Nancy on MLS Season Pass back in the spring, we asked him, ‘Don’t you need a 9?’ He said he was content with his squad, but deep down, I think it had to be different.

His side plays some of the league’s most attractive soccer, yet all too often, they haven’t reaped the full rewards for it due to wasteful finishing. If they could add a top striker who’s going to score goals, they'd become the Crew again – the Crew of the Cucho Hernández era, who won the 2023 MLS Cup and Leagues Cup 2024. Because that's the difference. Columbus still play the same football, and yes, Diego Rossi has stepped up. It's just that when the game's in the balance and the margins are really tight, you need that game changer, like Cucho was.

They’ve clearly missed that. So I cannot wait to see Abou Ali step into the starting lineup, because I think if he is the real deal, you can start putting Columbus back into the championship conversation.

Milan Iloski

Forward · Philadelphia Union

Not many of us expected Philly to be part of the Supporters’ Shield race this season, but there they are, first in the league with six games remaining. And I love that even with good depth on their roster already, they went out and grabbed Iloski from FC Nordsjælland, reportedly at a reasonable price after his excellent loan stint at San Diego FC.

That tells me Bradley Carnell means business. His team is battling for trophies, and with Iloski joining Tai Baribo, Bruno Damiani and Mikael Uhre, they’ve got four strikers who could start on a lot of MLS teams. Iloski bagged 10 goals and an assist in just 471 minutes for San Diego, and he’s already got 2g/1a in his first four Union appearances, including a strike that helped push them into the US Open Cup semifinals.

Conversely, I’m surprised San Diego didn’t find a way to keep him in their colors. They're also in the thick of the Shield race, yet couldn’t reach a deal for Iloski, instead bringing in David Vazquez and a couple of other US youth internationals on loan. I get it, they're falling back on their philosophy; they believe in their style of play and their way of recruiting, and are thinking long-term. But you do wonder what might have been, especially with their star winger Chucky Lozano being injured recently.

HONORABLE MENTION

FC Cincinnati

FC Cincinnati are also running right at the top of the table, and they’ve improved. Acquiring Venezuelan winger Ender Echenique via the U22 Initiative and bringing back Brenner on loan makes sense to me, because while Cincy undoubtedly revolve around their two star DPs, it’s good to get someone else who can run off of Evander’s passes and link up with Kévin Denkey.

You need your DPs to perform like DPs. But if you can build up that TAM part of the roster underneath them, it makes the whole team a lot better. It's no coincidence FCC are at or near the top of the league for the last few years.

Portland Timbers

Portland were quite busy, bringing in Matías Rojas, Felipe Carballo and Kristoffer Velde. They needed it, too, because the outgoing Santiago Moreno was a really productive winger who didn’t always get the respect he deserved. Rojas and Carballo carry MLS experience from their stints at Miami and New York Red Bulls, respectively – and the latter was instrumental in pacing RBNY’s run to MLS Cup last year.

The Timbers could be scary down the stretch because they score goals, and on their day, I think they can slug it out with any team. It's just about being harder to score against. With the atmosphere they enjoy at Providence Park, no Western Conference team will be excited at the prospect of visiting Portland for a playoff game.

Colorado Rapids

I rate the Colorado Rapids’ window – not only splashing out big money for Paxten Aaronson, but also getting Rob Holding from Crystal Palace. Holding is a leader in the back with tons of experience, and I think Paxten will be brilliant. After losing Djordje Mihailovic to Toronto FC, they needed someone who can take the game to the opposition, score goals and create for Rafa Navarro, Darren Yapi & Co. Aaronson’s a really good signing, and I believe he could take Colorado to the next level.

We can be too quick to dismiss the Rapids because they don't really do big business, and they don’t bring in big-name players all that often. And this tells me that Chris Armas is taking it seriously. He doesn't see them as just a team that’s going to be in the running – he wants to go deep into this year’s playoffs.

Real Salt Lake

It wasn’t as flashy, but I liked Real Salt Lake’s moves for Victor Olatunji and Rwan Cruz. I’ve taken to calling them ‘Real Diego Luna,’ because for far too long, he had too much weight on his shoulders for such a young player. Luna’s always had to do the extraordinary for RSL to get points on the board.

Diogo Gonçalves has helped out a little bit, and Zavier Gozo has stepped up. But they needed some presence up top. If at least one of those two newcomers can work out and score some goals, you start to respect Salt Lake as a team a little bit more. I'm glad they’ve strengthened that area, because it was too much for Luna having to play out of his skin every week.

Toronto FC

Credit to Toronto for swinging big with their cash trade for Mihailovic. They’re obviously looking at this season as a dud and thinking of strengthening for next year, when Mihailovic will be the No. 10 leading the way. Next year is when you’ll see Robin Fraser’s plans come together.