The 2025 MLS season won't end quite how a half-dozen Eastern Conference clubs had planned back in February.
The New York Red Bulls ran out of gas just as the calendar flipped to autumn; the five others we’re about to talk through never really got the engine started. Injuries, midseason shakeups, defensive lapses at the worst possible moments… it was a little bit of everything for some of them, and not enough of anything for all of them.
So it’s back to the drawing board. Again. The East’s top nine were historically great, and everyone on the outside will spend the winter wondering how to close the gap.
2025 in a nutshell
They finally got the DP goalscorer they’ve needed for a decade in Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, and then everything else promptly fell apart. None of the young players greatly improved, Emil Forsberg wasn’t as good as he was in 2024, and head coach Sandro Schwarz couldn’t quite pull off the evolution of the team’s system he’d been aiming for.
And so they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2009, ending a league-record 15-year streak. There's an entire generation of RBNY fans who didn’t know what that felt like.
This is all one year after making MLS Cup, as well.
What comes next?
They’ve either got to move on from Schwarz or give him reinforcements who can help this team evolve into what he wants them to become – not precisely ball-dominant, but definitely a little more tactically flexible in how they play the game. In theory, they’ve already got their deep midfield rotation set, but the backline needs real work and none of the wingers produced.
There should also be some questions asked of the scouting processes, given how low their hit rate has been on young imports (that used to be this club’s thing).
What to watch for this winter
I could spin you some tales of Julian Hall’s potential (if he doesn’t play 1,500 first-team minutes next year, we riot) or Carlos Coronel’s looming free agency, but there's just one question the Red Bull faithful really want answered: Will they sign a third DP?
I’ve heard from multiple sources that they’re still after Timo Werner, so… we’ll see. Hopefully they have a plan B this time if that doesn’t work out.
Player I’m excited for
Hall. The 17-year-old homegrown will be the starting No. 9 for the US at the FIFA U-17 World Cup next month and looks ready for a big role next year.
Notes
- Homegrown central midfielders Daniel Edelman and Peter Stroud saw their roles reduced in the second half of the season, and neither really seems to fit Schwarz’s vision for how he wants the team to play. I wonder if they’ll be shopped this winter.
- RBNY would probably be better off spending that DP spot on a winger instead of Werner, as Wiki Carmona played nearly every single game and provided 0g/3a, while Lewis Morgan saw almost his entire season wiped out via injury for the second time in three years. Plus, as mentioned above, Hall is ready for real minutes at the 9.
2025 in a nutshell
They remade the entire team throughout three transfer windows – summer 2024, last winter and then some desperation heaves this summer – to get what then-head coach Caleb Porter called “the right players.”
Well, Porter was dismissed in mid-September. After a decent little stretch in April, the Revs went right back into the tank in mid-May and won only four games over the past five months. It’s been tough sledding.
What comes next?
It can’t be another makeover. The front office went out and got a lot of good players, some of them young and with potential, but most of them in their respective primes. With that kind of build comes long-term contracts and real commitments, and there simply isn’t enough flexibility to tear it all down and build it all back up again.
And they shouldn’t, not when Carles Gil is at the tail end of his prime and still capable of Best XI-caliber seasons. They need a new head coach who can look at this roster and say “yeah, I know exactly how to get the best out of all of that,” not someone who demands an overhaul.
What to watch for this winter
Obviously, the coaching search is the big thing. Jim Curtin has reportedly pulled himself out of the running, which is a bummer for Revs fans – he’s a proven winner who got a ton out of multiple different roster builds playing multiple different styles during his time in Philly, and he’d be a great fit.
But there are other fish in the sea. They just have to make sure they get the right one and then, I presume, do only minor surgery on the roster.
Player I’m excited for
I’ve really been enjoying watching Matt Turner between the sticks again, gaining his confidence back week by week.
Notes
- Turner’s loan from Lyon only runs through June 2026. They’ll need to find a way to extend it or exercise the purchase option.
- They’re very thin at central midfield. I’d expect any shopping they do to focus on that spot.
2025 in a nutshell
From the start, nothing worked. Federico Bernardeschi regressed and Lorenzo Insigne (remember those guys?) basically didn’t show up. Neither did Ola Brynhildsen. The backline was leaky, the midfield couldn’t move the ball and there was no center forward who could occasionally win you a game.
So the story became the mid-season teardown and subsequent beginnings of a rebuild with the acquisitions of DP playmaker Djordje Mihailovic and workhorse central midfielder José Cifuentes.
What comes next?
Toronto look almost like an expansion team with the amount of expiring contracts and subsequent cap space they’ll have. So “what comes next” is a million roster moves to try to fill this thing out and build a team around the talents of Mihailovic and Cifuentes, who are both in their prime and championship-caliber starters.
What neither is, though, is an MVP-caliber player.
What to watch for this winter
The pursuit of an MVP-caliber player. Toronto’s got a history of spending big to bring in guys with that kind of profile, which is what Insigne and Bernardeschi were supposed to be. The hope is certainly that whoever the current front office picks to fill the two open DP slots will deliver more than the departed Italians managed.
There’s a lot of work to be done beyond just adding DPs, though. They need to figure out which young players are worth keeping around, which can handle bigger roles, and whether or not to keep Sean Johnson – who’s had perhaps the best season of his career – for one more year.
Player I’m excited for
It’s good to see Cifuentes back in the league. I hope he can play his way back into Ecuador’s World Cup plans.
Notes
- Chances are they spend those two open DP slots on a 9 and a winger (with Djordje at the 10), but I’d honestly use one on a goal-scoring right winger, one on a 10, move Djordje to playmaking left wing, and trust youngsters Deandre Kerr and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint to do the job at the 9.
- I think d-mid Alonso Coello is quite good; they were smart to sign him to a long-term deal last winter.
2025 in a nutshell
It was another year of massive change, with head coach Laurent Courtois shown the door after five matchdays and director of soccer Corey Wray departing in the summer. They sold another couple of young prospects, and in the end, missed the playoffs for the second time in three years. They'll finish below 1.5 points per game for the ninth time in 10 years.
It does, however, feel a little more hopeful this time around. The presence of new DP playmaker Iván Jaime and veteran No. 9 Prince Owusu signal a little bit more intent to compete next season.
What comes next?
Montréal don’t have to make the Jaime deal permanent just yet – his loan runs through next June. But if they exercise the buy option now, I think it would play well with a fanbase that wants to see some ambition. Same with young Chilean goalkeeper Thomas Gillier, who has been outstanding since his mid-season arrival.
If they exercised those options early and made no other significant moves, I’d count this offseason as a win.
What to watch for this winter
Still, Montréal should make at least one more significant move because they can decline DP No. 9 Giacomo Vrioni’s option (it’s a dead certainty they will) and have an open slot to play with.
I’d also expect them to be moderately busy moving pieces within the league, as I could see guys like Bryce Duke and Kwadwo Opoku having value inside MLS even as they’ve been knocked down the depth chart a peg or two at Stade Saputo.
The big question they have to answer is how they feel about their young center back corps. All four of Jalen Neal, Efraín Morales, Fernando Álvarez and Brandan Craig have potential, but none of them screams “starter on a contender!” at the moment.
Player I’m excited for
Man, it’s awesome to see Dante Sealy making good on his talent. I will be sad if this doesn’t continue!
Notes
- They’ve used Jaime more as a playmaking left winger than a true 10, which I’m ok with. I wonder how much that’ll inform what they do with that other DP slot.
- Victor Loturi has developed fairly well, but he does have limitations as a distributor that they’ll have to account for if they intend to keep him in such a prominent role next season.
2025 in a nutshell
I’m struggling to think of a team in MLS history that delivered less on their preseason expectations than 2025 Atlanta United. This year was tough. Very tough.
None of the three DPs produced as hoped. None of the TAM players fully worked out. None of the kids really developed to the point where they seem like a core part of the future, and head coach Ronny Deila didn't quite cover himself in glory.
They are playing for the Wooden Spoon this weekend. If they lose, it’s theirs. This is a bottom 1% outcome from a group this talented.
What comes next?
Chris Henderson – who’s calling the roster-building shots – began it in the summer with acquiring a few veterans up the spine and parting with a few kids who had no pathway to regular minutes and a few veterans who were underdelivering.
There is much, much more of that to come. On the senior roster, I don’t see a single potential free agent that I’d expect them to retain, nor a single player with a contract option that I’d expect them to exercise. And given how the past few years have gone, who can blame them?
What to watch for this winter
All of the above, obviously. But focus on one particular thing, and it’s “how will they use their buy-outs?” I see no fewer than six (you could even talk me into a seventh) worthy candidates.
To be clear: it would take a lot of money. All of these guys are on huge contracts with multiple seasons left, and given all of their track records, I could see Atlanta’s front office (and ownership) deciding it all needs another year to succeed (or fail).
But when you’ve had a season this bad, nothing can be off the table.
Player I’m excited for
Homegrown midfielder Cooper Sanchez got 85 minutes against Inter Miami last weekend, and I liked what I saw from the 17-year-old. Can they resist the urge to sell him to Montréal at a cut rate?
Notes
- I’m wondering if an underperforming Championship team – looking your way, Sheffield United and Southampton – might come in with a desperation offer for Emmanuel Latte Lath in January.
- Has 21-year-old Jayden Hibbert done enough to win the No. 1 kit for next year, especially after Brad Guzan announced his retirement?
2025 in a nutshell
The players never seemed entirely bought in to Troy Lesesne’s blueprint, and Christian Benteke was neither as healthy nor as outstanding as he’d been in 2024 when he almost single-handedly made the whole thing work.
So it all fell apart pretty quickly. They changed coaches, then changed general managers, and it seems pretty likely that they'll change over as much of the roster as possible pretty soon.
What comes next?
We get to see what new chief soccer officer Erkut Sogut can do.
"Sometimes the best opportunity is staring right at you and you don't see it," D.C. co-owner Steve Kaplan told MLSsoccer.com when Sogut was hired last month. “Jason [Levien] and I, it's almost like we had the same idea at the same time.
"It's like, this is maybe the smartest guy in football we've been around, and hardest-working. Would he consider it? Would it be possible? And that's how the discussion started."
Sogut is a sports lawyer and former agent who first helped them find René Weiler (Lesesne’s replacement) and then was consulting to help find the replacement for Ally Mackay. And, well, he did in fact do that.
What to watch for this winter
Here’s Weiler’s own words from 10 days ago:
"The team is not only struggling at home. We are down in the table, so we are struggling all time. It’s very simple. The team is too weak. That is the result. The table don’t lie, and I can’t do magic, so we need the players. They have to bring in the quality to be more competitive.”
Watch for all of it.
Player I’m excited for
By default, I’m going with 21-year-old homegrown Jackson Hopkins, the one marginally bright spot this year. He’s carved out a starting role as an all-action central midfielder whose box arrival makes him a legitimate goalscoring threat.
Notes
- They have a very big option decision to make on Benteke, who is the only DP on the roster. I’m not sure what to expect.
- There was reportedly interest in U22 attacker Gabriel Pirani this summer. Got to think if that gets rekindled this winter, they will be very open to working something out – though it’s worth noting that, as of now, there’s no reporting that they’ve exercised Pirani’s 2026 contract option.
