Let's take a team-by-team look at where all 30 MLS clubs stand re: how they’re using their Designated Player and U22 Initiative slots. Think of it as a refresher as teams around the league report for preseason this week.
All of this is based on press releases, some reporting of my own, some cribbing from local coverage, and the official club roster profiles (which haven’t been updated since September, so take many of these designations with a grain of salt). Plus a dash of Tommy Scoops, the Backheeled gang and everyone else who covers the whole league tossed in.
Bear in mind two big things as you read this:
- MLS teams decide between building with 3 DPs/3 U22 slots, or 2 DPs/4 U22s/$2 million extra General Allocation Money (GAM). Throughout this column (and henceforth in all columns, really), I’ll be referring to this as 3/3 or 2/4/GAM.
- Many of these DP designations and literally all of the U22 designations are fungible. As such, teams often move guys into and out of these slots throughout the year to maximize cap space or limit allocation money usage.
In we go:
- DP slots: 3/3 - Miguel Almirón, Emmanuel Latte Lath, Alexey Miranchuk
- U22 slots: 1/3 - Tomás Jacob
None of Atlanta’s three DPs, who reportedly cost more than $40 million combined in transfer fees, can be bought down. They’re stuck with them unless they find either a willing taker or a number that works for both parties.
Surprisingly, there have been few whispers this offseason about either thing being on the table. There really does seem to be an internal consensus that last year was (mostly) Ronny Deila’s fault, and that old friend Tata Martino is the right man to get these guys to perform at something close to their respective bests. And if it doesn’t happen this year, well, then I guess it might be time for owner Arthur Blank to write another very big check.
Tomás Jacob is, as you can see, the team’s only U22 as of now. On the one hand, I am optimistic: he was good as a 20-year-old in Argentina’s top flight and was good this past year as a 21-year-old in LIGA MX with Necaxa, and competence in those leagues tends to translate to MLS. But there’s not a great history of U22 center-back signings (and let’s not forget that Tata was the guy who orchestrated the Tomás Avilés U22 signing for Miami, which hasn’t gone great).
What comes next: Lots of reports indicating that 21-year-old San Lorenzo left back Elías Báez is on his way, and I believe them. After that, I’d be shocked if they didn’t take yet another crack at signing a U22 winger.
- DP slots: 3/3 - Liel Abada, Pep Biel, Wilfried Zaha
- U22 slots: 3/3 - Baye Coulibaly, Idan Toklomati, Kerwin Vargas
Biel is back on a DP deal after spending last year as a max TAM guy, and can’t be bought down. If he plays as well as he did last season (before the injury, anyway), then he’ll be more than worth the spot. Zaha is a full DP as well (he's on loan through June 30), and so is Abada. I’ll have more on him in a minute.
Toklomati and Vargas were both starters in the second half of last season and will probably continue to be so in 2026 (though I wouldn’t bet my life on it in Vargas’s case). Coulibaly is a 20-year-old central midfield destroyer who I’m guessing will be a depth piece given his performances last year in MLS NEXT Pro.
What comes next: There have been some reports out of England, via Sky Sports, that there are several Championship teams interested in Abada’s services.
Got to think Charlotte would jump at that deal, as Abada’s got just 13g/4a in 66 appearances for the Crown over the past two years and is unlikely to be a starter (or even a top sub) in 2026. We’ll see if that deal gets done before I start speculating on how they’d fill his spot, but my guess is 2/4/GAM with a new U22 center back.
- DP slots: 2/2 - Jonathan Bamba, Hugo Cuypers
- U22 slots: 4/4 - Leonardo Barroso, Djé D'Avilla, Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Puso Dithejane
Gregg Berhalter got to work early, signing Barroso, D’Avilla and Viktor Radojević last season, and making Mbokazi (who I think will be a starter) one of the first big signings anybody made in the current transfer window. Then, just this morning, they signed winger Puso Dithejane and moved Radojević out of his U22 designation and onto the senior roster
To borrow an explanation from MenInRed97's Tim Hotze, "[Radojević] wasn't a big transfer fee and he isn't making that much money, so the Fire essentially got a third of his transferfer fee paid off with expiring GAM they got from going 2/4/GAM last year."
Between all of the above, along with some work in MLS free agency (Robin Lod) and getting Swedish international Anton Salétros in on a TAM deal, there just aren’t many needs to address roster-wide. And obviously, nothing they can use any premium slots on.
What comes next: Player development. Barroso was mostly a back-up to veteran Jonathan Dean, and while D'Avilla improved over the course of his half-season at d-mid, he’s still got a ways to go. Radojević, meanwhile, has yet to make this debut.
The other thing that might happen… look, the Robert Lewandowski whispers are not going away. And for that to happen, something needs to happen with Cuypers.
- DP slots: 3/3 - Evander, Kévin Denkey, Miles Robinson
- U22 slots: 3/3 - Ender Echinique, Gilberto Flores, Samuel Gidi
As with Chicago, Cincy got their work done early. First they brought in Echenique and Gidi mid-season on U22 deals, and then they extended Robinson (who was going into free agency) on a DP deal. And that’s that.
Chris Albright has made his usual series of TAM-level moves, of course, and has a bunch of very good veterans in a lot of spots.
But it’s the premium roster slot guys who are the core of this team. Which is, I guess, as it should be.
What comes next: Cohesion and chemistry, hopefully. Cincy’s problem last year wasn’t overall talent, it was the way that talent fit together – or rather, the way it didn’t fit together. The hope is, I’m assuming, that a full preseason together will lead to familiarity, which will lead to better outcomes (or at least to better processes, which can then hopefully lead to better outcomes).
Part of this is obviously going to have to be getting more out of the U22 guys. All three showed potential last year, but none truly moved the needle.
- DP slots: 3/3 - Wessam Abou Ali, Dániel Gazdag, Diego Rossi
- U22 slots: 2/3 - Ibrahim Aliyu, Hugo Picard
Well, with Wilfried Nancy’s short-lived run in Glasgow, at least they (probably) don’t have to worry about Celtic coming in with a Godfather offer for Abou Ali. I honestly think that was on the table had the former Crew head coach not rapidly made himself a former Celtic head coach.
I am bullish on the trio of DPs, believe it or not. Abou Ali was clearly cursed with injuries last season, but in his very brief moments on the field, he looked like a high-level match-winner. Which we know Rossi already is.
Gazdag… ok, talk about cursed, and there you go. I will just say: 28th percentile in goals among attacking midfielders, 79th percentile in non-penalty xG and npxG+xA. If you’ve read this column, you know how I think about things regressing to the mean.
I am concerned that there is no mean to regress to for Aliyu and Picard. Neither looked up to the job last year.
What comes next: Believe it or not, the depth chart is pretty full for new head coach Henrik Rydström. Now, that could change – there’s interest in Max Arfsten, Mo Farsi, Patrick Schulte and Abou Ali, and we know that injuries can destroy any team’s season (as happened to this team last year), but I don’t think there’s going to be any special urgency to fill that last premium roster slot this window.
The real urgency comes in developing guys like Picard and Taha Habroune, in making sure new ball-winner Sekou Bangoura is up to the job, and that Gazdag gets his confidence back.
- DP slots: 2/2 - Tai Baribo, Louis Munteanu
- U22 slots: 3/4 - Caden Clark, Gabriel Pirani, Kim Joon-Hong
Dr. Erkut Sogut’s first window in charge has been… honestly, pretty interesting so far. I liked the Baribo move, a cash trade of at least $4 million to Philly. Baribo is never going to have the most spectacular highlight reel, but he 100% knows where goals come from and regularly finds the types of one-touch tap-ins that don’t dry up.
Some Union fans will dispute that because Baribo was so much better in the first half of last season than the second, but even in the second, he scored six goals (and added three assists) in about 1,200 minutes across all competitions. If that’s what a slump looks like – a goal every 200 minutes – then you’ve got yourself a 15-goal guy.
How will he fit with Munteanu, the club’s record signing? I’m not sure, but were I to guess, I’d land on “up top together in a front two, likely with Munteanu dropping in as a sort of half a playmaker at times but mostly working off each other as D.C. will likely play with a Union-esque directness.”
What comes next: There was significant overseas interest in Pirani back in the summer, and I’m assuming that’s something Sogut will pursue should said interest rematerialize. Pirani is a toolsy player – he’s got good feet and quickness – but he’s never consistently brought it to bear for D.C., and even if he does max out his abilities, he’s never going to be the kind of playmaker this team needs.
Which… yeah, whether Pirani stays or goes, and whether Munteanu drops in a bunch or not, this team still needs more final-ball quality. I wouldn’t be shocked if that meant going to the 3/3 roster build and adding a DP No. 10 to pull the strings.
- DP slots: 2/3 - Rodrigo De Paul, Lionel Messi
- U22 slots: 4/3 - Tomás Avilés, Mateo Silvetti, Telasco Segovia, David Ayala
There’s been a lot of… let’s call it “confusion” about Miami’s wheeling and dealing this offseason. I think a lot of folks felt like the Herons were headed towards the type of roster-gutting that the Galaxy endured after they won the 2024 MLS Cup, and when the opposite happened… again, I’m going to use the word “confusion.”
So for the sake of clarity, I’m going to point you towards Arman Kafai’s excellent newsletter, Footy Analytic Musings, and specifically his mid-December entry on Miami:
Here’s the thing: Inter Miami are not the LA Galaxy. Their cap situation was healthy due to the sale of multiple players to other clubs. Leo Campana, Robert Taylor, and Drake Callender are all players who netted the team GAM and allowed for the Rodrigo De Paul loan, which we discussed on FAM. They continue to push the boundaries of roster construction and it’s paid off.
Well, De Paul is a DP now, and with Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba retired, they have another DP slot open – provided they move on from Avilés (bringing them from four U22s to three), which I think they will.
They also made that cash trade for David Ayala, of course, and have both Silvetti and Segovia slated for bigger roles next season.
What comes next: Bear in mind, they could just opt into the 2/4/GAM build for now and be totally fine in terms of roster compliance all year. Or they could buy out (or sell, trade, or loan) Avilés and add a third DP (there have been Giovani Lo Celso rumors from Spain) immediately, or they could wait until summer, move on from Avilés in that window, and then add a third DP. Or a fourth U22 if they want to stay 2/4/GAM.
The summer move makes the most sense to me, both because it’s easier to do deals for a player like Lo Celso (he’s a starter for Real Betis, who are sixth in LaLiga right now) in the summer window than in the winter, and because staying on the 2/4/GAM build gives Miami a free $1 million of GAM to use for the first half of the year, which means they can preserve their other GAM for other, bigger roster moves later on. Either way, they do need to add attacking depth post haste.
Regardless, when it comes to this sort of stuff, I have come to expect Miami’s front office to do the smart thing virtually every time. It’s been a clinic.
- DP slots: 1/2 - Iván Jaime
- U22 slots: 3/4 - Sunusi Ibrahim, Jalen Neal, Hennadii Synchuk
Montréal, as you can see, have some room to make moves. And yeah, they’ve already made one big one by splashing out for Jaime, the 25-year-old Spanish playmaker who didn’t quite cut it with Porto or Valencia – two giant clubs – but is maybe the most ambitious signing of the team’s entire existence.
The rest of the roster is… well, it’s hard to put my finger on exactly where they’re going here, but there’s a pretty mismatched collection of veteran journeymen and high-upside kids in need of development. That includes both Neal and Synchuk, each of whom I think is slated to be a starter; Ibrahim is, I think, most likely to have a home elsewhere.
Anyway, there’s a lot of stuff happening here! They’ve made some good signings, and I hope that continues to the point that the roster ends up looking coherent and balanced.
What comes next: The biggest roster hole is at right wing, where they don’t really have a natural starter. That would be the optimal spot to use a DP. And as mentioned above, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ibrahim was on the move this winter. In fact, I’d say I’ll be more surprised if he wasn’t on the move.
- DP slots: 3/3 - Cristian Espinoza, Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge
- U22 slots: 3/3 - Jonathan Pérez, Ahmed Qasem, Patrick Yazbek
They made arguably the move of the winter in signing Espinoza, one of the best playmakers in the league and an all-time great Quake, as a DP free agent. Nashville have needed that kind of high-level third attacking threat for basically their entire existence, and now they’ve got it. It feels to me like that’s opened a two-year window of legitimate, high-level contention for any/every trophy they’ll play for.
And now, because they’re getting more out of younger players on their roster – head coach B.J. Callaghan is proving to be the polar opposite of his forerunner, Gary Smith, in terms of development – they have the depth to compete across multiple competitions. They kiiiind of showed that last year in winning the US Open Cup and logging a 54-point regular season, then giving Miami at least a game’s worth of trouble in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. But this year I think the pieces are in place for a trophy and a mid-60s regular-season points haul, which could very well mean the Supporters’ Shield.
Really well done.
What comes next: Nothing with the premium roster slots, even if Pérez and Qasem do kind of overlap in terms of position and skillset.
Would I be totally shocked if one of them was sold/traded mid-season? No, I would not. But that’s a story for another window.
- DP slots: 2/2 - Carles Gil, Matt Turner
- U22 slots: 4/4 - Luca Langoni, Ilay Feingold, Brooklyn Raines, Dor Turgeman
I love the move they made for Raines, a $1.6 million cash trade from Houston. He’ll be very familiar with new head coach Marko Mitrović, who was head coach of the US U-20 national team for the past few years, and who made Raines a written-in-pen starter at this past autumn’s FIFA U-20 World Cup.
He should give them a needed dose of both youth and two-way ability in that central midfield, and hopefully Mitrović gets more out of the holdovers than departed head coach Caleb Porter managed to. I do think the pieces are in place for this to be a much better team.
What comes next: If they open a premium roster slot by moving Langoni (there is significant interest around the league and in South America), or by buying Turner off the DP slot to TAM, they could bring in another DP, or they could hang a DP tag on Leonardo Campana (his salary makes him eligible), or – and I think this is most likely – they could simply bring in yet another young player for Mitrović to develop. Maybe even a former US U-20!
Now, most of those guys are in good spots with their clubs, either already playing big minutes or in line for them this year. But arguably the best player from that group, center back Josh Wynder, hasn’t cracked the rotation at Benfica in any meaningful way. And while the Revs aren’t exactly thin at center back (especially after getting Wynder’s CB partner Ethan Kohler for free)... I mean, I’m just connecting dots here.
Wynder needs to play. I think he would in Foxborough.
- DP slots: 3/3 - Nicolás Fernández, Talles Magno, Thiago Martins
- U22 slots: 3/3 - Julián Fernández, Jovan Mijatović (on loan), Agustín Ojeda
All has been quiet in the Bronx – soon to be Queens – this winter in terms of player acquisitions under new sporting director Todd Dunivant. But I just want to point this out:
That’s Talles Magno! Remember him?
There was a very brief time, back in the first half of 2022 (so yeah, we’re talking years ago now), when he looked like he was becoming the best young winger in MLS. Then Taty Castellanos was sold, and Nick Cushing came in as head coach, and things just totally fell apart.
Talles has been on loan with Corinthians in Brazil’s top flight since then, and after a promising start, it just didn’t work out. That’s over and, at least for now, he’s back.
He’s still a Young DP, is just 23 years old and is on a guaranteed deal for the next two years. I can think of worse gambits than bringing him back and seeing if Pascal Jansen can get the best out of him, especially given how mixed the pair of U22 wingers listed above have been.
What comes next: Can they at least figure out a way to move off of Mijatović and bring in a starting-caliber center forward while Alonso Martínez rehabs his torn ACL?
- DP slots: 2/2 - Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Emil Forsberg
- U22 slots: 3/4 - Noah Eile, Dennis Gjengaar, Wiktor Bogacz
I’m happy to convey the reports that the Timo Werner saga is over. It turns out the outcast RB Leipzig striker is most likely on his way to San Jose, not Harrison.
From a RBNY perspective, this has to be considered a good thing. For one, it’s just the end of a saga that’s been… not particularly well-handled by the club.
For a second thing, there are lots of whispers that RB Global Chief Soccer Overseer Jürgen Klopp has mandated that all Red Bull teams play a 4-3-3, and new head coach Michael Bradley had RBNY II play a 4-3-3 last year when he took over (and subsequently led them to the MLS NEXT Pro title).
Werner doesn’t fit into that system, really. Especially not alongside Choupo-Moting and Forsberg, neither of whom are going anywhere in the immediate future.
Anyway, that’s that on Timo. And oh yeah, they haven’t touched their premium roster slots yet this winter.
What comes next: They’ve got three clear needs: in goal, at center back and on the right wing. And my guess is that, while they’ve collected some GAM this winter through player trades (farewell, Peter Stroud and Daniel Edelman), they probably need the GAM infusion of the 2/4/GAM roster build model.
So while they probably could go with another full DP, I’ll put my money on another U22 being added. It just makes more sense from a roster/budgeting and, frankly, cultural (RBNY want to get back to being a developmental juggernaut) point of view.
Wynder would be an even better fit here, by the way, than with New England. Just sayin’.
- DP slots: 3/3 Luis Muriel, Martín Ojeda, Marco Pašalić
- U22 slots: 2/3 - Tiago, Luis Otavio
They brought in two new U22s in Otavio, a d-mid who will presumably fill the shoes of the departed César Araújo, and Tiago, a left winger who will – please, God, please! – presumably score more goals than incumbent starter Iván Angulo. And they also loaned out holdover U22 Nicolás Rodríguez in a deal that opens up his spot for them to use.
Which, in theory… very good. But in practice, Orlando have only sporadically put their U22 slots to particularly good use (Araújo being the best example). More often they’ve missed big, getting little out of that “premium” designation despite head coach Oscar Pareja’s long history of player development.
If they want to log yet another 50+ point season, they can’t afford to have missed on Otavio and Tiago. These guys need to be, if not immediate starters, immediate contributors at the very least. And if they’re not, it’s on Pareja to whip them into shape.
What comes next: Consider the lede thoroughly buried, because the one true question for Orlando this offseason is “can they move Muriel?” The Colombian has been spectacular in bursts, but more often has hovered between “non-factor” and “massive net negative.”
He’s turning 35 in April, so I don’t think he’s magically going to become a fit, 90-minute, two-way player. And that’s what they need out of those DP slots if they’re going to compete with the neighbors down I-95.
EDIT: Just before we hit pub on this bad boy Tom Bogert posted "Junior FC finalizing deal to sign Luis Muriel from Orlando City," and that the club intends to use the DP slot that move would open up.
Wish granted, Lions fans.
- DP slots: 1/2 - Bruno Damiani
- U22 slots: 3/4 - Ezekiel Alladoh, Olwethu Makhanya, Quinn Sullivan
At this time last year, Dániel Gazdag and Mikael Uhre were DPs, and Damiani had just been brought in as the club’s record signing. Gazdag was subsequently sold and they let Uhre walk at the end of the year.
I don’t think they’ll replace either with a full-on DP signing. Instead it’s now Alladoh, a forward like Damiani, who’s the club’s record signing. I’m guessing the 20-year-old Ghanaian will start up top and the rest of it will just sort of fall into place.
Now, if you’d have asked me back in November if Makhanya would be back, I’d have said no. He developed exceptionally well last year, and there’s a ton of overseas interest. But when they traded veteran Jakob Glesnes to the Galaxy for a huge chunk of GAM, that calculus changed.
So yeah, Makhanya could still be sold this winter if somebody came in and bowled the Union over. But I think the chances of that happening are slim.
What comes next: Because they are so good at player development, both of their own academy products and of young acquisitions like Makhanya, they do not have any real roster holes.
That said, there is now an obvious need at left back following the sale of Kai Wagner. I don’t think they’ll use a DP slot there or anything, but a new U22 signing? That wouldn’t surprise me at all.
For what it’s worth, I’d guess nobody in the league has more GAM than Philly right now. So they absolutely do not need to go with the 2/4/GAM roster build model. But since you can now roll non-model GAM over indefinitely and horde it like Smaug, they should just go with 2/4/GAM and do exactly that. Call it a rainy day fund.
- DP slots: 2/3 - Djordje Mihailovic, Richie Laryea
- U22 slots: 1/3 - Cassius Mailula
They’ve kept the powder dry on their premium roster slots so far this winter, though it seems like that’s about to change, which I’ll get to in a minute.
Before I do that, though, bear in mind that Laryea can be bought down off his DP slot pretty easily (and it would make obvious roster-building sense to do go to a 2/4/GAM build and do exactly that; TFC would get enough GAM out of that move to buy Laryea’s cap hit down to almost nothing, have $1 million left over, AND get use of a fourth U22 slot).
Also bear in mind that Mailula spent last season on loan. I would wager heavily against him being part of the roster this year.
Which means, for all intents and purposes, they have Djordje and five open premium roster slots.
What comes next: It looks like maybe Josh Sargent?
After that gets done – if that gets done; Norwich are saying “absolutely not!” – there’s still plenty of work this roster needs up the spine and, I think, on the wings.
Obviously, they’ll have plenty of roster flexibility to work with as general manager Jason Hernandez tries to build it all out.
