MLS Free Agency Tiers: Top players available for 2026 | OneFootball

By Matthew Doyle

The 2025 MLS Free Agency class is out, and so now’s the right time to take a look at the guys at the top of the heap – the true needle-movers who could make or break a club’s offseason.

Because I’m me, I’m going to group them in tiers.

In we go:

Long-Term Solutions

These guys are in their respective primes and can, I think, actually help upgrade some of the best teams in MLS. All of them will have significant interest, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see most of them change clubs.

Justin Haak

Defender/Midfielder · New York City Football Club

Haak is a unicorn: a homegrown defensive midfielder who, over the past few years, has transitioned into a full-time center back at the MLS level. He’s got the size and physicality to play on the backline and battle in the box against center forwards – he’s not aerially dominant or anything, but he's good – while still retaining those midfielders’ instincts, which means he’s extremely comfortable initiating build-outs with the ball on his foot.

That’s when NYCFC were at their best this year: when Haak was drawing in the first line of opponent pressure, then breaking that line with pinpoint accuracy. And yeah, he still can play d-mid when called upon, which he was with some frequency throughout the second half of the season. How many center backs in MLS can do that at a conference finalist level? It’s not a lot.

And Haak only just turned 24! This guy should be a foundational piece in Queens for the next decade, man. I can’t believe NYCFC let him make it to free agency.

Dayne St. Clair

Goalkeeper · Minnesota United FC

The 2025 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year is obviously one of the very best ‘keepers not just in the league, but in the region. There is a very good chance he’ll be starting for Canada at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is the ultimate shop window.

Because of all that, I’d speculate it’s actually more likely for St. Clair to return to the Loons on a deal that works for both sides, with an understanding that if one of the European big boys comes calling and hits the right number post-World Cup, then something will be worked out.

But still, I could see someone else in MLS coming in with the kind of offer that would complicate everything for any sort of future planning Minnesota’s front office might be doing.

Anyway, St. Clair was the best goalkeeper in the league this past season and is in his prime. The only reason I have him behind Haak here is that it’s harder to find high-level 24-year-old CBs than it is to find high-level 28-year-old GKs.

Cristian Espinoza

Midfielder · San Jose Earthquakes

I initially had Espinoza, who turns 31 in April, in the next tier simply because he's now exiting his prime, while the rest of the players in this group are either in it or are just entering it. We’re talking five or six years of elite play left – maybe more for Haak – while Espinoza hopefully has three. Maybe.

But he’s been incredibly durable in his Quakes career, and his eye for the final pass has only become sharper (he led MLS in key passes this past season). Beyond that, because he’s a traditional winger who does not play inverted, there’s a bit more flexibility in projecting how his game might age, as well as in what formation you could use him in.

What I’m saying is he’s not as reliant on his initial burst and acceleration as many other wingers, which means when he’s 33 or 34, he’ll probably still be really good.

The Quakes are trying to get him back, but the truth is that about 20 teams in this league could use him. It’ll likely take an open Designated Player slot to get the deal done, though.

Carlos Miguel Coronel

Goalkeeper · New York Red Bulls

To that point, Coronel is 28 years old and had the second-best underlying numbers (behind St. Clair) among MLS goalkeepers last season. He didn’t get the shine that St. Clair did because the Red Bulls missed the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in 15 years, but without Coronel’s week-to-week excellence, they wouldn’t even have made it as long as they did.

Like St. Clair, Coronel is possibly a starter for his own national team (Paraguay) next summer and isn’t going to want to sign somewhere he’s fighting for minutes. The good news is there are a bunch of MLS teams – including, in Orlando, maybe the most obvious fit there is, given their South American flavor – in need of a new No. 1.

One note here: St. Clair’s underlyings have been very good-to-excellent save for the 2023 season, while Coronel’s have been a little more up and down.

Paul Rothrock

Midfielder · Seattle Sounders FC

Rothrock is more of a team-specific signing than the other three guys. What I mean by that is that Haak would help either good teams or bad teams, and the goalkeepers are obviously going to be in demand by teams that need starting-caliber goalkeepers.

Rothrock, on the other hand, really only makes sense for already excellent teams that need a fourth heat in the attack – the type of heat provided by a guy with an endless engine and endless unselfishness moving off the ball. Rothrock, who’s in his prime at age 26, is not the kind of winger you run the game through, hoping that he’ll get on the ball and make plays. Rather, he’s the kind of winger who opens the game up for your actual playmakers, and then is smart enough in his movement off-ball to find eight to 10 one-touch finishes per year, along with a ton of pullbacks across the box.

Could Seattle still use him? Of course. But so could the likes of Nashville, LA, Houston and Orlando.

Veterans Who Could Help Winning Clubs Right Now

These guys are all good players – some better than the guys listed above – but I wouldn’t be planning around them beyond, say, the next two years.

Christian Benteke

Forward · D.C. United

The 35-year-old Benteke is the most impressive aerial presence I’ve ever seen in this league, and by all accounts, a beloved teammate and committed leader. One of next year's Concacaf Champions Cup teams should be calling him IMMEDIATELY.

And if not one of them… man, could you imagine this guy playing 3,000 minutes in Minnesota’s Set Piece Sickos attacking scheme?

Robin Lod

Midfielder · Minnesota United FC

Truth is, I expect both St. Clair and Lod to end up back with the Loons, though of the two, I’m more confident about Lod. He’s been durable (he rarely misses games), flexible (he can play anywhere from the No. 8 to false 9) and largely excellent no matter the game model. He’ll turn 33 in April, so this probably won’t last forever, but I’d be surprised if he wasn’t still a high-level MLS player two years from now.

As with Benteke, every single CCC team should be sniffing around. Lod’s availability and ability to add value at multiple spots is the exact kind of guy you need if you’re going to keep your level high for 50 games.

Walker Zimmerman

Defender · Nashville SC

Zimmerman is among the best floor-raisers among MLS center backs in the league’s history. He’s been dominant in his own box and largely excellent in his own defensive third.

Beyond that, he’s merely functional, so he’s not going to take a very good team and turn them into an elite, ball-possession side. But anyone who struggled defensively last year (including playoff teams like Cincy and Dallas) should be thinking hard about this one.

Sean Johnson

Goalkeeper · Toronto FC

I actually had Johnson on my all-MLS second team this past year for his shot-stopping work. It really was one of his finest seasons, which is saying a lot given how good his career’s been.

That said, it was something of an outlier relative to his previous two years, and he’ll be 37 next spring. I think he’s still a starter for the right team, but the range of teams that could be right for him has gotten much narrower.

Josef Martínez

Forward · San Jose Earthquakes

Josef turns 33 early next year, and with age and injury have come limitations. So he mostly does one thing these days: score goals. He did it last year for San Jose, and he did it the year before that for Montréal. Plus, in both years, his underlying numbers said his boxscore numbers were not flukes. As per Opta:

You need to have some stuff set up around him, both service and club-culture-wise, to make this really work at a high level. But if you do, he will put the ball into the back of the net a bunch.

Depth Pieces

These are guys who I think can help, but shouldn’t be thought of as starting solutions: