MLS Hits Record-Spend in Summer Transfer Window—And the Sum Is Eye-Watering
The impact of the 2026 home World Cup may take time to fully surface for MLS teams, but the tournament's excitement seems to have sparked a record year of investment in the transfer market.
In 2026, MLS clubs spent a record-$370 million across the winter and summer transfer windows, with four incoming fees ranking among the league’s top 10 in history. Josh Sargent had a record-shattering move to Toronto FC in February worth $22 million, while Breel Embolo just completed an $18 million transfer to Atlanta United a few weeks ago. Andre Luiz likewise made an $18 million move this summer, to Sporting Kansas City. Meanwhile, Inter Miami signed Germán Berterame in late January for $15 million.
The combined incoming transfer fees from all 30 teams doubled from two years ago, despite the league adding only San Diego FC in that time. Last season, clubs shelled out $336 million, while 2024 saw a then-record $188 million spent across the entire league. Between 2021 and 2023, teams spent between $163 million and $173 million, highlighting the drastic leap in investment in the most recent seasons.
While major transfer fees for global stars drove much of the spending, other legends of the game actually joined the league for free in 2026. Decorated European stars Antoine Griezmann, Robert Lewandowski and Casemiro, joining Orlando City, the Chicago Fire and Inter Miami respectively, all signed as free agents.
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How MLS’s Spending Compares to Europe’s Top Leagues
As much as MLS’s combined spending of over $370 million stands out in the U.S., it still heavily trails the bill paid by the teams of the English Premier League. In just the recent summer window ahead of the 2026-27 campaign, the Premier League teams spent a world record-$4.7 billion, even despite having 10 less participating teams than MLS. Manchester City alone spent a whopping $439 million this summer just on three new midfielders (Enzo Fernández, Elliott Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi).
MLS’s summer expenditure also did not crack the top 10 amongst global soccer leagues. Each of the Premier League, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga, French Ligue 1, EFL Championship, Turkish Süper Lig, Saudi Pro League, Liga Portugal and Belgian Pro League spent more in the transfer window.
MLS Sales Hit Record High
MLS’s activity on the selling side of the summer transfer market made waves too, headlined by Real Salt Lake’s $15 million sale of 19-year-old Zavier Gozo to the Premier League’s Crystal Palace, and multi-million dollar deals that saw USMNT World Cup players Sebastian Berhalter and Max Arfsten leave Vancouver Whitecaps and the Columbus Crew for Middlesbrough of the English second tier.
In total, seven MLS clubs set records for outbound transfers, including the Colorado Rapids’ $23 million sale of teenage Australian center back Lucas Herrington to Hull City and the L.A. Galaxy’s $12 million sale of Gabriel Pec.
The Portland Timbers also sold forward Kevin Kelsy to Scotland’s famed Rangers for $12 million, marking the first time in over a decade that the Edinburgh club spent upwards of $11 million on a single talent.
In addition to the outgoing and incoming transfers, MLS also saw teams hit new highs in the internal market through cash-for-player trades. Despite not officially counting as transfers due to MLS’s single-entity structure, several of these deals were in the multimillions, headlined by Rafael Navarro’s $12 million move from Colorado to St. Louis and Dejan Jovejlić’s $6 million trade from Sporting Kansas City to the Seattle Sounders.
With MLS’s upcoming calendar change set to be introduced in 2027, MLS teams are expected to make even bigger splashes in future transfer windows, potentially competing with the biggest European clubs for top talent over the next few seasons.
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