New transfer rules mean the MLS will see more big signings than ever

The beginning of the 2025 MLS season is just over two weeks away, and whilst American sports fans might be more interested in the Super Bowl or Luka Doncic, soon the excitement will be around the league’s 30th season commencing. With San Diego FC joining the roster of teams, the MLS has now expanded to 30 clubs, meaning there are more players than ever playing professionally in the States.

It feels like we are at the start of something big in Major League Soccer. With changes to the rules, clubs can now spend unlimited money on player transfers or ‘trades’ whereas beforehand teams had to use General Allocation Money (GAM) or other assets (such as SuperDraft selections or International Roster Spots) to acquire players. This means that going forward we will see bigger transfers within the league - which we have already seen with the likes of Mateusz Klich and Dejan Joveljic - as well as more big-name stars coming over from Europe.

.@SportingKC's new man up top. 🇷🇸

Dejan Joveljić moves to KC via the first cash-for-player trade in MLS history ($4M): https://t.co/epxOvtlMbo pic.twitter.com/1ptue83BPw

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) February 2, 2025

With that being said who are some of the new names playing in the MLS this year? And what will they bring to the league…

1. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting - NY Red Bulls

The longevity of Choupo-Moting is insane when you think that he was a part of Cameroon’s 2010 World Cup squad, one of the few active players from that tournament. His career since has seen him score goals wherever he’s played whether it be in the Premier League, Ligue 1 or Bundesliga.

Many have overlooked Choupo-Moting, maybe because he was never the star man at PSG and Bayern Munich, or maybe because of the surprising nature of his transfers to these clubs. However, in his one season in the Premier League, he reached 10 goal contributions despite missing the last seven games of the season through injury. 112 career goals, over 40 Champions League appearances, and 73 appearances for Cameroon, this signing could completely revolutionise a NY Red Bulls team that reached the MLS Cup Final in 2024.

Choupo-Moting will play alongside NYRB’s previous star forward, Lewis Morgan, who has scored at least 13 goals in both of his last two seasons. With Emil Forsberg supplying creativity from behind them, the Red Bulls have one of the best attacking triangles in the league that will be a danger to all.

2. Wilfried Zaha - Charlotte FC

Charlotte FC have not experienced a signing like this since joining the league three years ago. Their highest-profile signings before were the likes of Ashley Westwood and Christian Fuchs. However, now the Queen City have a star that could propel them further than the first round of the playoffs, the furthest they’ve reached in the postseason.

At times Zaha has looked like one of the most talented players in the world, and there’s a reason why he played over 450 times (with 142 goals + assists) for Crystal Palace as he was the team’s only hope on many occasions. The Ivorian has only played 112 minutes of competitive football this season so it might take some time for him to warm up but once he does he will be unstoppable.

Charlotte’s team is now shaping up well with Tim Ream, Kristijan Kahlina and Adilson Malanda at the back, as well as Liel Abada and Pep Biel, linking up with Zaha in attack. After finishing 5th in the Eastern Conference last season, the Crown have done everything they need to build on that.

A Queen City collab for the city’s newest star 👑

Charlotte is buzzing and ready for our home opener on March 1st! pic.twitter.com/U396SMTMvN

— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) February 2, 2025

3. Emmanuel Latte Lath - Atlanta United

The only player on this list to not have broken the top five leagues in Europe, Latte Lath might be an unknown quantity to many, but for EFL fans this striker is ready to set this league alight for Atlanta.

The MLS transfer record for incoming players has been broken twice already this January with the new transfer rules, with Latte Lath the most expensive signing the league has ever seen with a fee of £22.5 million. The striker who is about to hit his prime aged 26 scored 27 goals in one and a half seasons in the Championship, including 11 already this season at the halfway stage of Middlesbrough’s season.

After shocking Inter Miami in the playoffs last season, Atlanta have gone a step further in the transfer market bringing back Miguel Almiron as well, adding in the likes of Klich in midfield, the Five Stripes are one of the most valuable teams in the league, with one of the most dangerous front lines too.

🔴 Emmanuel Latte Lath for Middlesbrough:

- Games: 67
- Goals: 29
- Assists: 4

His $22 million move to Atlanta is the BIGGEST deal in MLS history 🤯 pic.twitter.com/kZR0Z3waUW

— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) February 4, 2025

4. Jonathan Bamba - Chicago Fire

Jonathan Bamba might have gone off the radar at Celta Vigo in the last couple of seasons, but so have Chicago Fire who have been missing from the upper echelons of the MLS for over a decade. The club represents a city with the third-highest population in the USA but has qualified for the playoffs twice in the last 15 seasons, not getting past round one on either of those occasions.

Bamba is the Fire's highest-profile signing since Xherdan Shaqiri in 2021, the Swiss left this window though, so a replacement was needed. The Ivorian international (the third on this list) is aged 28 so still has many strong seasons ahead of him and will be looking to recapture the form he found in the 18/19 and 20/21 seasons at Lille. Those two seasons saw him score 21 times from the wing and assist his teammates on 15 occasions.

Fellow January signing, Philip Zinckernagel is a player familiar to England and also another strong signing for the wing. With Hugo Cuypers playing centrally the two should fit perfectly in the Fire’s new-look forward line, one that will hopefully lift them off the bottom of the Eastern Conference, where they finished in 2024.

Jonathan Bamba is ready to set the league on fire in Chicago! pic.twitter.com/PBlk22PQPU

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) January 21, 2025

5. Hirving Lozano - San Diego FC

It’s not easy playing in a new country for the first time let alone an entirely new team. Lozano was San Diego FC’s first-ever ‘Designated Player’ announcement back in June of last year, so his arrival in Southern California is historical. A city based near the border of his native land Mexico, SDFC have slowly built an entire team from scratch which includes the likes of Anders Dreyer, formally of Brighton & Hove Albion and Anderlecht, Paddy McNair and Alex Mighten, with the latter two names from the EFL.

As an expansion club, your inaugural season is never easy, with some finding great success (LAFC in 2019) and some failing to escape the bottom ranks (FC Cincinnati in 2020 & 2021). Lozano will have the pressure of a city on him to perform at the highest standard in order to deliver a relatively successful debut campaign to San Diego.

But Chucky Lozano can live up to that, the winger has already scored 12 goals for PSV since the beginning of their season. His other accomplishments include making 70 appearances for Mexico, reaching 28 Eredivisie goal contributions in back-to-back seasons and scoring 15 in Napoli’s 20/21 Serie A winning season. After seeing Carlos Vela tear the MLS apart from the wing, his fellow Mexican speedster should be set to do the same in 2025.