MLS and The 2025 Club World Cup
Three MLS teams have a berth in the 2025 CWC. How can they utilize their winnings and mini transfer window?
The 2025 Club World Cup is finally upon us after years of hype, confusion, and forced enthusiasm in the form of insane payouts by FIFA to have clubs take Gianni Infantino’s project seriously. We’re going to get some matchups that would once only appear in a soccer madlibs exercise.
Ulsan vs Mamelodi Sundowns? LAFC vs Espérance Sportive de Tunis? I mean, could you even dream of those matchups? For some of these clubs, it’s an awesome opportunity to showcase their ability against the world’s best. And for MLS, three teams get that opportunity to represent the league: Seattle, LAFC, and Inter Miami.
Earning (or being given the berth if you’re Inter Miami) comes with its perks in MLS. Along with extra allocation money, teams get a mini transfer window from June 1 to June 10 in order to make changes. That aspect is a bit odd; obviously, this is to help the teams bolster for the Club World Cup. But it can also help the teams during the season, while other teams will have to wait until July 24th to make moves. There have been rumors swirling about pieces being added. Let’s go into each team, their roster, and what changes they could make with the mini window (if they even look to use it).
Seattle Sounders
The Seattle Sounders made their moves in the off-season with all the excess allocation money they received from selling international spots and CWC qualification. They acquired Jesus Ferreira for a lot of allocation money, were able to add Paul Arriola (who sadly tore his ACL), and then, were able to add Ryan Kent to replace Arriola. Their team has not shifted much in terms of talent outside of adding the two TAM players.
The team has three U22 initiative player spots available, but as my friend Marc Machado wrote about last week, it’s not realistic to expect those players to contribute immediately. It’s hard to anticipate any other moves from this team. They have no flexibility in their DP spots; all of their DP’s are full DP’s and cannot be bought down. Their allocation money left over is enough to maybe trade and acquire a player within the league, and if they wanted to, they could pull forward up to $1.25M of 2026 GAM. It’s a weird spot where the only improvements the team can make are lower instant impact players.
I mean, the Club World Cup group that the Sounders are in is a borderline group of death. You’re talking about PSG (2025 Champions League winner), Atletico Madrid, and Botofogo. To expect them to advance out of the group is unrealistic, and if expectations are low, why not go after a U22 player and allow him a bit more time to integrate with the team? We know their learning curve is a bit longer, and yes, it may not help with the CWC. Taking advantage of that window and helping with your MLS season? I would for sure try to execute that, especially with the roster situation the team has now.
Inter Miami
The Inter Miami situation is a bit more interesting. Owner Jorge Mas is ambitious with his spending, and the team has a bit more flexibility than some of its counterparts. Miami also has Lionel Messi on its team, and with him, they will be in every game, even against much tougher opponents. There are a lot of moving parts here, mainly due to the brilliant cap management done by the club, so let’s dive in here.
One name that’s been rumored quite a bit is Brian Rodriguez, Club America’s winger. If you remember, Rodriguez played for LAFC (as a young DP) before departing in 2022. He’s been a part of the America team that completed the tricampeonato, or winning three of the Liga MX short seasons in a row. How would the Herons fit Rodriguez, who would command a salary of probably over $1M and have some sort of a transfer fee, onto their roster?
Well, there are two ways this can work. For one, if Miami’s total guaranteed compensation for Rodriguez is below a certain amount, he would be eligible to be a TAM player. Keep in mind, this includes the transfer fee and contract amounts. They could sign Rodriguez to a lengthy deal to keep him as a TAM player and defer most of his fee to the next two seasons to keep his budget charge (transfer fee paid + salary) within a range for them to have a healthy amount of GAM. The bottom numbers are totals, but that’s just the amortized average times the contract length.
The easier route for Miami would be to do what the New England Revolution did with Thomas Chancalay in 2023. They brought Chancaly on loan (with a loan fee being added to the budget charge), paid his salary, and then executed an option to buy to make him a full DP at the end of the year. Miami can do this with Rodriguez if they please; have him on loan for the rest of the season, make him a full DP with a purchase to buy in the offseason, and either re-sign Sergio Busquets at a TAM level, or let him go.
The other aspect of Miami’s situation is that they can pull forward allocation money. According to estimates between
and I, Miami has a trade surplus of $700K of 2026 GAM, from the Robert Taylor and Leonardo Campana trades. In theory, they could pull forward $700K into 2025 (again, the rules allow them to pull forward $1.25M for earning a CWC spot) and be at a net zero in terms of money owed, giving them $2.7M in GAM to work with. That’s enough to add a TAM player and then some. Or, give them enough to buy an international spot off a team if they need it.Whatever the team wants to do, they have a lot of opportunity to improve and compete in their Club World Cup group.
LAFC
LAFC earned the last spot in the Club World Cup after a thrilling 2-1 victory over Club America last weekend. With that, the team is now thrown into this mini-window with little time to prepare. A good run team, though, is prepared for these situations and will have a list of targets ready to go, regardless of the outcome.
It’s my understanding that LAFC just received the same perks as Seattle and Miami did after qualifying for the CWC. Therefore, add $750K GAM to that 2025 number and the ability to pull forward. The $750K GAM may not have a significant impact on the club at the moment, but in theory, it can fill the DP spot currently occupied by Cengiz Ünder.
Ünder apparently has an option to buy of $25M from his parent club Fenerbache. That has 0% chance of actually being executed; it would be the most expensive transfer in MLS history for a player who has played 446 minutes this season. Could the club terminate the loan of Ünder early (pay whatever penalty; it would be approximately 25 days early), recover the pro-rated GAM, and then utilize it on another designated player? This allows them to add another player, integrate into the squad earlier than other teams, and accomplish their goal of improving the roster with the DP spot. I think it’s possible and the only real route of improvement for them at the moment. I don’t see the team pulling forward with a 2026 $500K GAM deficit from the Nkosi Tafari and Mark Delgado trades. It also just doesn’t need to.
~$800K in GAM can’t get you as much, especially if you’re talking a trade. Do you want to burn more 2026 GAM for non-impact players? LAFC’s full focus should be on that essentially open DP spot as it can be the main difference maker not only in CWC, but in league play.
The Club World Cup has given these three teams an early opportunity to bolster their roster. With 4 days left in the window, will a team execute on a move? Or will they all stay put? The thing is, these scenarios are still valid in the secondary window. There can be patience by clubs. I just hope to see some fireworks and an MLS team giving its all during the tournament.
Until next time!