Europe’s winter transfer window slammed shut on Monday, but not before two more 2026 World Cup hopefuls switched clubs to help boost their chances of making United States coach Mauricio Pochettino’s roster for next year’s tournament on home soil.
Here are six Americans who changed employers over the last 34 days, and how that might impact their chances of breaking into the U.S. coach’s plans.
LB Caleb Wiley
To: Watford
From: Strasbourg (via Chelsea)
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Chelsea, which paid a cool $10.5 million for Wiley last summer, recalled the 20-year-old from France on Deadline Day and immediately loaned him to second-tier English club Watford. Wiley will now compete in the same league as several more established Americans, including Leeds’ Brenden Aaronson, Middlesbrough’s Aidan Morris, Norwich’s Josh Sargent and Coventry’s Haji Wright.
Before Fulham’s Antonee Robinson emerged as one of the world’s best left backs, that position for the U.S. men’s national team was usually filled by a converted midfielder or a right-footed defender. There’s still a dearth of natural lefties behind Jedi, to the point where Pochettino didn’t bother summoning a backup for Robinson the last time the full-strength U.S. squad assembled.
Kristoffer Lund served as the understudy for most of 2024. John Tolkin’s stock is rising quickly. (More on Tolkin later.) But don’t sleep on Wiley. After joining Tolkin on the 2024 U.S. Olympic team, the Blues sent the former Atlanta United prodigy on loan to Strasbourg, where he made six Ligue 1 appearances before a shoulder injury sidelined him in November.
Should he establish himself as a regular with the Hornets, it could earn Wiley the chance to audition for Chelsea’s squad next summer or continue his development on loan with another top-flight team. He already has two caps with the senior USMNT, the most recent in January 2024.
M/F Taylor Booth
To: Twente
From: Utrecht
The other American to move on Deadline Day was Booth, the 23-year-old who scored a permanent transfer from the Dutch Eredivisie’s third place team to its sixth. Twente paid more than $2 million for Booth, according to Netherlands-based outlet Voetbal International.
Booth should play more now; he hasn’t made a single start this season after 44 top-flight appearances (seven goals) the previous two years. Booth’s two senior caps both came in 2023.
M Luca de la Torre
To: San Diego FC
From: Celta Vigo
De la Torre’s European career seemed to be on the upswing after he made the Americans World Cup roster in 2022. Though the San Diego native didn’t play in Qatar, he broke into the starting lineup at Spanish club Celta in early 2023 and mostly stayed there for the season and a half, making 60 La Liga appearances.
Things changed this season, when manager Claudio Giráldez determined that the American wasn’t in his plans. De la Torre logged just three minutes under Giráldez this season before being loaned to MLS expansion franchise San Diego FC on Jan. 21.
The move guarantees De la Torre playing time; he’ll run the midfield for coach (and recent USMNT interim boss) Mikey Vargas behind star attacker Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. If he does well, a return to Europe ahead of the 2026 World Cup is possible — though not necessary: U.S. boss Mauricio Pochettino has said repeatedly that players in or who return to MLS and excel will have the same opportunities to make his roster as their overseas counterparts.
De la Torre is about to put that pledge to the test, and his agreement contains an option for SDFC to make the deal permanent — something the player says he’s open to.
“If I’m happy here and that means I’m playing my best football, I’ll stay,” he told local website SanDiego.futbol.
M Lennard Maloney
To: Mainz
From: Heidenhiem
Pochettino has yet to call the German-born defensive midfielder into camp, but that could change now that Maloney has moved from Bundesliga struggle Heidenheim to sixth-place Mainz.
In many ways, he seems like Pochettino’s type of player. “He brings a strong mentality, as well as a willingness to run hard,” Mainz sporting director Niko Bungert, who noted that Maloney “is also strong at winning challenges and aerial duels,” said after the deal was completed on Jan. 21.
Sure, there’s lots of competition in the middle of the field for the U.S. Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah are entrenched as starters, with De la Torre, Brenden Aaronson, Gianluca Busio, Johnny Cardoso, Aidan Morris, Gio Reyna, Tanner Tessmann, Malik Tillman and others also in the mix. But none of those players have Maloney’s rage or defensive bite — attributes that helped him win his only two U.S. caps under then coach Gregg Berhalter in late 2023. “You see him going into tackles, a really committed player, really team-orientated player,” Berhalter said of Maloney then.
The onetime Borussia Dortmund prospect could debut for his new club on Saturday against Augsburg.
“He’s the perfect fit for Mainz,” Bungert said.
LB John Tolkin
To: Holstein Kiel
From: New York Red Bulls.
Sands wasn’t the only MLS player to join a Bundesliga team in January; Tolkin moved to Germany on a permanent transfer worth around $3 million — a club record fee for Holstein Kiel.
The good news is that Tolkin, like Sands, was given minutes immediately; he started against mighty Bayern Munich in Saturday’s 3-2 loss and created several good scoring chances for his side, though he was beaten by Michael Olise on Bayern’s opening goal.
The bad news is that Holstein Kiel is on pace to be relegated back to the German second division next season — erasing any advantage he might have over Wiley and Lund, who plays for Italian Serie B side Palermo.
M James Sands
To: St. Pauli
From: New York City FC
The native New Yorker gained valuable Champions League experience with Scottish behemoth Rangers during a 14-month loan from the Pigeons in 2022-23.
Sands returned to Europe on New Year’s Day. This time it’s with the German Bundesliga darlings on a six-month loan. He’s already appeared in five matches and started the last three under manager Alexander Blessin, who clearly trusts the newcomer.
Sands’ 182 minutes played in January is more than Reyna has gotten all season with Dortmund, and he’s versatile enough to drop into a center back role from his usual spot in central midfield when asked — something that can’t hurt his chances of returning to the national team this year for the first time since the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports who has covered the United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him at @ByDougMcIntyre.
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