Embolo to Atlanta, Joveljić joins Seattle & MLS transfer latest | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Just one week left.

Plenty of MLS regular season remains, and some big fixtures loom at the business ends of the Leagues Cup, US Open Cup and Canadian Championship tournaments. But the clock is ticking loudly on the final days of the MLS Secondary Transfer Window, the last real opportunity to add reinforcements before 2026’s home stretch.

The hot stove has been bubbling ahead of Sept. 2, so let’s take a swing through some recent business of note.

The usual asterisks apply: Teams can still add free agents who are out of contract after the window closes (that’s a much smaller pool to pick from, though), and the Roster Freeze Date is Oct. 9. The inverse of the above paragraph is also true. With most of Europe’s top leagues closing their window a day or two beforehand, there’s not much time left to seal big outgoing moves, either.

Atlanta United

Atlanta land Embolo

One of the biggest, longest-running transactions of the summer clanked across the finish line in recent days, as big spenders Atlanta United officially welcomed Breel Embolo. The Swiss international was unveiled to fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday as the Five Stripes beat Sporting Kansas City, 2-1, for their third win in a row.

Prominent European clubs, among them recently-promoted English Premier League side Ipswich Town, reportedly sought to hijack the big striker’s $18 million move across the Atlantic from France’s Stade Rennais. But Embolo liked what he saw in Atlanta, where he’ll be the spearhead of the attack as head coach Tata Martino & Co. try to restore ATLUTD’s past glory, starting with a late dash from last place into this year’s Audi MLS Cup Playoffs field.

“I think [at age] 29, a lot of people in Europe, they are a little bit shocked, or they wish maybe to see me in England or in Spain or in Italy,” Embolo, Atlanta’s fourth summer arrival, told MLSsoccer.com and other outlets in a roundtable discussion after his introductory press conference on Wednesday.

“But I think it's also for me a sign, to show to the other ones that I'm not coming here just to rest. I want to help the club to get where they belong.”

The big striker and his family got a helpful taste of North American life during this summer’s 2026 FIFA World Cup, and revealed that his past experiences with American teammates like Weston McKennie, Haji Wright and Bryan Reynolds opened his eyes to the soccer revolution underway on this side of the pond.

“I'm trying also to change this mentality, because I think everything has a start, and if you see now the players with quality, and in the last year how the US national [team] performed, you see that it's a big, big, big step in everything,” Embolo noted.

“And the facilities are, almost everywhere, better than any team in Europe. So I think you have the capacity to bring the football, the soccer here to the next step. And if I can bring a little contribution, it will be nice.”

Sporting Kansas City

Sporting splashing cash

MLS's biggest movers this summer have not been Atlanta, Inter Miami CF, the Los Angeles clubs or other traditional heavy hitters, but Sporting KC.

This marks the first full transfer window since owner Peter Mallouk acquired a majority stake in the club over the winter, and Mallouk’s pledge – posted in reply to a fan on Twitter, no less – to spend “a lot” on SKC’s ongoing roster overhaul has proved accurate and then some.

The Midwesterners handed Greek giants Olympiacos a reported $18 million-plus to make Brazilian winger André Luiz a Designated Player; that’s roughly double their previous club-record expenditure, on Mexico international Alan Pulido in 2019. (And they’d already taken an even bigger swing at Egyptian superstar Mo Salah earlier in the summer.)

Sporting director David Lee also shipped a reported seven-figure sum to LIGA MX’s FC Juárez for Colombian center back Moisés Mosquera, and just this morning completed a big intra-league deal with Austin FC for homegrown midfielder Owen Wolff, a cash-for-player trade for up to $7.6 million plus a sell-on percentage.

We suspect they’re not done yet, either.

Lee told The Athletic that SKC plan to field three Designated Players by next season, if not sooner. And they’ve just opened up two DP slots, one by buying out Spanish playmaker Manu García, and the other via our next item…

Seattle Sounders FC

Seattle swing for Serbian spearhead

Newly-flush Sporting KC are even feeling bullish enough to part company with their most productive attacker (26g/5a in regular-season play) of the past year and a half, Dejan Joveljić, via a $6 million ‘cashfer’ with the struggling Seattle Sounders this week.

It’s technically a profitable transaction, considering SKC paid the LA Galaxy $4 million for the Serbian international shortly after he led the Gs to their 2024 MLS Cup triumph, and Sporting aim to fill his spot with an even bigger name from abroad.

Yet it also looks like smart business for the Sounders, who have been hampered by an injury crisis that’s contributed to a 1W-8L-1D skid across all competitions since the FIFA World Cup pause and badly need reinforcements.

Remarkably, Seattle have not signed a player from outside their organization over the last four summers, a reflection of their reliance on the player-development system they’ve built across their academy and MLS NEXT Pro side Tacoma Defiance.

Their current predicament – they’ve plummeted down the Western Conference standings and out of the playoff places – has exposed the limitations of that economical approach. As SounderAtHeart pointed out, Joveljić's numbers compare favorably to club legend Raúl Ruidíaz and some other recent in-prime No. 9 acquisitions around MLS, suggesting he’s a worthy subject of their investment.

LA Galaxy

Galaxy's midseason makeover

Joveljić's former club in Southern California have been busy, too, and with good reason. The Galaxy boast just six league victories this season and have yet to win back-to-back matches.

So LA made a bold move to sign Mexican superstar Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano on loan from their SoCal counterparts San Diego FC, then bolstered their engine room with FC Barcelona alum Sergi Roberto and also added Japanese forward Kyōgo Furuhashi from English outfit Birmingham City.

Will it be enough to salvage their season, or might the six-time champs make another big swing? We’re watching Carson closely over the window’s final days.

CF Montréal

A star lands in Quebec

The buzz was palpable across the City of Saints earlier this month as Alexis Sánchez landed to become CF Montréal’s latest Designated Player.

Chile’s all-time leading scorer is 37 now, and some distance removed from the salad days in which he won multiple major trophies with Arsenal, Barcelona and Inter Milan as well as two Copa América titles for his country, but Montréal reckon he’s still got enough magic in his boots to power a postseason push.

The Québécois club also brought in proven midfield metronome Dani Pereira from Austin, and made what we reckon was a savvy swoop for out-of-favor New England defender Brayan Ceballos. They’ll need all hands on deck to climb above the playoff line from their current 14th position in the East.

Columbus Crew

Brais, Josef & more

Somewhat surprisingly, the team beneath Montréal in the table are Columbus, who have shown improvement under interim coach Laurent Courtois yet have just 20 points (5W-11L-5D) from their first 21 matches.

So, the Crew have been active. They brought in Spanish maestro Brais Méndez from LaLiga’s Real Sociedad for a reported fee of nearly $7 million, inked a loan deal with Brazilian heavyweights São Paulo for Chilean striker Gonzalo Tapia, and signed former Manchester United center back Eric Bailly and Atlanta United legend Josef Martínez in the free-agency market.

Playoffs qualification is a tough ask, though the Ohioans will also host Orlando City in a US Open Cup semifinal next month; win that tournament, and they can look ahead to Concacaf Champions Cup action next year.

Other Key Moves

→ Akin to the Joveljić move, San Jose have reportedly swooped for St. Louis CITY SC standout Eduard Löwen, acquiring the creative German midfielder after he and STL were unable to make progress towards a contract extension. Arriving in St. Louis ahead of their inaugural season in 2023, he's bagged 20g/27a in league play and could be a vital reinforcement for the Earthquakes, who have faded badly in recent weeks after a scintillating start to the campaign.

→ Houston Dynamo FC are the surprise success story of the season so far, and just plugged accomplished Uruguay international Marcelo Saracchi straight into their starting XI at left back via a deal with Argentine institution Boca Juniors. Could the ex-Celtic, Galatasaray and RB Leipzig defender prove the finishing touch for a trophy contender in H-town?

→ The Revolution brought back former New York City FC standout Jack Harrison from English Premier League side Leeds United, and he’s made an immediate impact: The Englishman already ranks third on the team in assists, with five helpers in his first four Revs appearances. New England have quietly staked out fourth place in the East and seventh in the overall league table.

→ Vancouver Whitecaps FC have been bustling. The current West leaders brought in past and present Canadian youth internationals Kwasi Poku and Emrick Fotsing as well as Colombian prospect Sebastián Ramírez, and sought to plug their Sebastian Berhalter-shaped midfield hole with Serbian youngster Aleksa Cvetković on a U22 Initiative deal. While these seem primarily like longer-term plays, they’re also said to be shopping for in-prime additions, so keep checking in on our Transfer Tracker for updates.