The Week in MLS Transfers: Feb. 8-15 | OneFootball

As we get into the final week before the season kickoff, the transfer activity appears to be waning. There were only 21 moves in total, and over half the teams conducted no business whatsoever. Monetarily, only $8.4M was spent on transferring players in, and a paltry $3M earned for selling talent. A big drop from last week.

The league’s roster freeze deadline is Friday, Feb. 20, so we’ll see if there’s a sudden flurry of activity in the next handful of days by clubs looking to shore up their sides (looking at you, San Jose Earthquakes).

IN Nariman Akhundzada

This one truly came out of left field. Akhundzada is a 21 year old forward from Azerbaijan, a country not noted for producing top tier soccer players.

Columbus Crew plucked him from the country’s top team, FK Qarabağ, for a $3M fee. Despite his youth, Akhundzada brings deep experience, having played over 125 games for the Horsemen, including Europa and Champions League ties.

He’s also earned 12 caps for his country. It’s unclear exactly when he will start for the Crew, as he must get a visa and file for an International Transfer Certificate. Qarabağ also have a two-leg Champions League playoff starting this week against Newcastle, where his contributions would be needed.

WAIVED Jonathan Rodríguez

Portland Timbers trimmed some branches by waiving forward Jonathan Rodríguez, the club announced Monday.

The Uruguayan joined from Club América $4.75M before the 2024 season as a Designated Player. In 29 matches that season he scored 16 goals and 6 assists, but a season-ending knee injury in 2025 limited him to six games as a substitute.

OUT Jonathan Pérez

Pérez, a US-born Mexican national, has left Nashville SC for Liga MX top side Chivas de Guadalajara. This transfer set a club-record fee of $3M, and Nashville retains a sell-on percentage. The Boys in Gold first took on Pérez on loan back in July 2024 from LA Galaxy, but were so impressed they fully acquired his rights in August 2025 for $2.15M. He was a Galaxy homegrown academy product.

IN Agustín Anello

After parting ways with two major attacking contributors (Tai Baribo & Mikael Uhre), Philadelphia Union continued to rebuild on that front.

Their latest move was to bring in Agustín Anello from Uruguay’s top-flight side Boston River for a reported $2.5M. The 23 year old forward has been playing in the Antipodes since September 2024, with previous stints in Belgium, the Netherlands and Croatia.

TRADE Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty <–> Wiki Carmona

While it’s relatively common in other U.S. sports, a player trade is rare in soccer. Yet that happened last week when CF Montréal and New York Red Bulls agreed to a straightforward exchange. Defender Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty left Canada for Gotham, and midfielder Wikelman “Wiki” Carmona did the opposite. This will be Marshall-Rutty’s fourth MLS team, while Carmona has spent the last five seasons with NYRB.

IN Juan Manuel Sanabria

Real Salt Lake continued their aggressive offseason rebuild last week, signing Juan Manuel Sanabria from Liga MX side Atlético San Luis.

JuanMa, as he’s known, is a Uruguayan defender/midfielder who came up through the Club Nacional academy. Before playing in Mexico, he had spells with Atlético Madrid’s reserve team and Real Zaragoza. Sanabria is the 28th move the club has made since October, and the fee was apparently $2.5M.