The MLS has always attracted some of the best soccer players from around the world. However, Lionel Messi’s signing with Inter Miami in the summer of 2023 changed the league for the better.
The last two years have seen an influx of great talent from around the world, both old and young. While many will attribute this to Messi’s arrival, it also has a lot to do with teams investing more to get the best. The recent transfer window alone has seen the MLS transfer record broken multiple times.
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Ahead of the 2025 MLS season, here’s a list of some of the exciting new and new-but-old faces who will set the league on fire.
Wilfried Zaha
One of the most exciting wingers to have come out of English soccer, Wilfried Zaha has signed a one-year loan for Charlotte FC.
After leading Crystal Palace’s attack in the Premier League, Zaha decided to ply his trade in Turkey by joining Galatasaray. However, things didn’t go quite according to plan, and a loan to Lyon didn’t work out either.
But what better platform for Zaha to show his class than the MLS? Where former Crystal Palace teammate and 2024 MLS Golden Boot winner Christian Benteke has found his form.
Charlotte fans will be highly anticipating their first glimpse of the silky smooth winger who won Crystal Palace’s Player of the Year award three seasons in a row. Opposition defenders, however, won’t look forward to dealing with the tricks up his sleeve.
Hirving Lozano
San Diego FC made a big statement before even playing an MLS game by signing Hirving Lozano.
With 140 goals across 498 career appearances, Lozano will bring the experience and talent San Diego needs to establish itself in its debut season.
If he avoids the injury issues that have plagued his career, MLS fans will get to see what one of the best CONCACAF players of the last decade has to bring to the table.
Emmanuel Latte Lath
For some, Atlanta United breaking the MLS transfer fee ($22 million plus add-ons) to sign Emmanuel Latte Lath from Middlesbrough this season was quite the gamble.
However, the forward’s performances across the last three seasons justify Atlanta’s trust in him. Latte Lath was Middlesbrough’s top scorer in both his seasons at the club, scoring 29 goals in 67 appearances, while winning the EFL Championship Player of the Month award in April 2024.
The 26-year-old is not going to let the price tag, as he’s joined Atlanta United with one thing in mind:
Latte Lath’s ambitions match our own.
We just want to 𝘄𝗶𝗻. pic.twitter.com/XSqd0ICWtA
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) February 19, 2025
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
A fan-favorite at Bayern Munich, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting will for sure win a lot of hearts at New York Red Bulls.
A versatile forward who can play anywhere across the frontline, Choupo-Moting may just be the final piece in the puzzle for the Red Bulls’ bid to win the MLS Cup this season after narrowly missing out last time.
The Cameroon forward has had more than six months of break from soccer, however, the opposition will be foolish to fall into a false sense of security to think he will need some time to readjust. A break and a change of scenario may just be what Chuopo-Moting needed to find his 2022-23 form.
Miguel Almiron
For many Miguel Almiron isn’t really a new face. However, for Atlanta United fans the return of the prodigal son after six years is perhaps the highlight of the transfer window.
Although he only spent two seasons at the club before leaving for Newcastle United, Almiron sure left his mark. In 2018 he was one of the driving forces behind Atlanta United’s first MLS Cup, scoring 13 goals across 38 appearances in the process.
For fans who did not get to witness Almiron’s magic, you’re in for a treat.
Brandon Vasquez
The greatest striker to have played for FC Cincinnati, Brandon Vasquez will now represent Austin FC after completing a transfer from Monterrey for a club-record fee of $10 million.
Vasquez was unstoppable during the 2022 and 2023 campaigns for Cincinnati, scoring a whopping 37 goals in 77 appearances. After a couple of seasons in Mexico, he is once again back to terrorize MLS defenses.
Kevin Denkey
However, something tells us FC Cincinnati fans won’t miss Vasquez too much.
Cincinnati went all-out to sign talented Togolese striker Kevin Denkey from Cercle Brugge for a then-MLS record transfer fee of $16.2 million. And Denkey has more than justified the price tag on the back of his performances in Belgium.
The forward scored 66 goals in 152 appearances during his time in Brugge, with his best showing coming during the 2023-24 season, where he won the Golden Boot with 27 goals in 38 matches.
Latte Lath may have pipped him to become the most expensive signing in MLS history, but the two forwards’ battle to top the goalscoring charts will be one to watch.
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