Is EFL Championship really a higher level than MLS for Patrick Agyemang? | OneFootball

While Patrick Agyemang has been away with the U.S. men's national team at the Concacaf Gold Cup, according to multiple reports, his agents and his MLS club have been fielding numerous transfer inquiries.

Among the most likely teams to sign the 24-year-old are Derby County and Ipswich Town, two EFL Championship sides.

And while MLS players have long viewed the Championship as a favorable destination, as the leagues do business more regularly it's becoming less and less clear that the latter is anything more than a lateral move.

With a year remaining to earn a spot on th 2026 World Cup squad, it's fair to ask: Are we sure Agyemang is moving to a level that would boost his chance to play for Mauricio Pochettino's final group.

Money talks

Of course, it certainly wouldn't be a lateral move for Agyeang in terms of compensation, who appears likely to command a transfer fee of around $7 million.

While he won't receive that money directly, that indicates he'd be in line to receive an enormous pay raise from his $105,000 salary in Charlotte (per the players union's MLS Players Salary Guide), possibly reaching into seven-figure territory.

The MLS figure is far beneath market value. But with Agyemang only in his third MLS season after rising from Charlotte's reserve MLS Next Pro squad, he's still two at least years from free agency if he remains in the league, giving The Crown no obvious incentive to increase his wages.

Leaguewide, team valuations would indicate the Championship is at a higher level than MLS, though not extraordinarily so. The median squad value of a Championship club is around $62 million, according to Transfemarkt's valuations, while that of the median MLS club is about $48 million.

There's also a wider range. While the top Championship squads last year have roughly double the value of the best MLS teams, the lesser clubs are very comparable to the bottom of MLS: Derby's assessed value of $27 million is lower than any club in MLS.

Mileage varries

There's been enough business in both directions that it's safe to say the transition can be difficult for players going in either direction, even when the expectation often is that good Championship players will become great MLS contributors.

Striker Emmanuel Latte Lath joined Atlanta United after the club paid a league-record transfer fee estimated at around $22 million, and yet so far he's scoring at a rate slightly less than he did at Middlesbrough.

Sam Surridge now is the league's MLS Golden Boot frontrunner with 15 tallies. But he scored only twice in his first half-season in Nashville, averaging 0.36 goals per 90 minutes. He scored more than a goal per 90 while used primarily as a substitute for Nottingham Forest in his final season in the Championship before he was rarely used in the Trees' EPL return.

A bigger stress test

What is probably true is that the Championship provides most players with a higher level of stress, which can be useful for development.

Attendances in the Championship are similar to MLS. But the atmospheres are often far more cut-throat in a culture where even second-tier clubs receive far wider fan and media attention than your average MLS team that is overshadowed by other North American pro sports.

The enormous stakes of a potential promotion to the Premier League, the richest division on Earth, as well as a possible demotion to the far more anonymous League One, can give every match more of an edge than in MLS, where reaching the playoff places is often considered good enough.