Why USMNT Hopefuls Are Flocking to English Championship in Summer Transfer Window

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The stages keep getting bigger for U.S. soccer players across the globe, and this summer’s transfer window has proved as much, with the influx of USMNT-eligible talent to some of Europe’s most competitive leagues.

While the likes of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Folarin Balogun had already established themselves in Europe’s major competitions over the past decade, more of their fellow Americans are making their mark.

This summer, it’s been about the English Championship. Lauded as the most competitive second division in the world, it rivals the level of European competitions outside the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 and could be vital to the next era of the USMNT’s growth.  

On Monday, Middlesbrough announced the signing of 22-year-old U.S. midfielder Rokas Pukštas from Hajduk Split, increasing their U.S. contingent to four players, while Houston Dynamo standout Jack McGlynn and San Diego FC center back Luca Bombino are reportedly on the verge of signing with Stoke City.

With the potential three newcomers to the EFL Championship, the total U.S. contingent rises to 13, up from 10 in the 2025–26 and 2024–25 campaigns. At the same time, the two new moves are the latest in a formative transfer window for American talent, with McGlynn and Bombino’s MLS-to-Championship moves the fourth and fifth of their kind this summer.

While there are no guarantees when shifting leagues and the gap between the English second tier and Major League Soccer isn’t a massive step up, the move has become popular for MLS talent, and clubs are paying hefty prices to add from North American shores, with McGlynn’s fee reportedly $5.5 million and Bombino’s reportedly “north of $5 million.” 

From the club perspective, MLS and North American talent have become a trusted recruitment market—and the path has linked to an influx of Canadian talent as well—and it has become a near assurance. Middlesbrough have already proven that through the quick adjustments from USMNT World Cup players Sebastian Berhalter and Max Arfsten.

At the same time, Darryl Dike previously had a strong spell with West Brom after a prolific period with Orlando City. The likelihood of a player adjusting quickly and fitting in from a key MLS role has been proven, paving the way for more to follow. 

Every American in the Championship

Meanwhile, for the player, a move to the Championship offers European eyes and a chance to fight for the Premier League. While never an MLS player, Canadian winger Liam Millar helped Hull City to promotion last season and is now enjoying life as a Premier League player, scoring the 1–0 winning goal to help the Tigers to a perfect 2-0-0 start. 

“The Championship is one of a kind,” Millar told Sports Illustrated before the World Cup. “It’s a league where, genuinely, you don’t need to play good soccer. You just need to know how to win… Playing the Championship, it’s tough, it’s challenging, it’s not easy and the longer it goes on, the harder it gets.”

At this point in the evolution of MLS and North American soccer, players are seeing the EFL Championship—and to a similar extent, the Belgian first division—as a key stepping stone. At the same time, clubs feel increasingly safe making those bets.

Soon, playing under that pressure and in a different style could catch the eye of bigger European clubs and national team coaches, potentially paving the way for more international opportunities for players like the uncapped Pukštas, Bombino and 13-cap McGlynn, among others. 

Pukstas’s Remarkable Rise and Raktic’s Push

For Pukštas in particular, the move away from Croatian powerhouse Hajduk Split had been years in the making.

Touted as one of the club’s top talents, he had an illustrious Croatian star and Hajduk Split sporting director, Ivan Rakitić, urging USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino to take him on the 2026 World Cup roster after racking up 10 goals and four assists in 36 games in 2025–26. 

Through his time with the coastal Croatians, Pukštas played in some of Europe’s most intense atmospheres, and under the heated management of Gennaro Gattuso, whom Pukštas described as “militant,” in an interview at the time with FourFourTwo. 

The Statistically Strongest Leagues in World Soccer

1. English Premier League
2. German Bundesliga
3. Spanish La Liga
4. Italian Serie A
5. French Ligue 1
…
9. Portuguese Primeira Liga
10. English Championship
11. Polish Ekstraklasa
…
18. Ecuador Liga Pro
19. U.S. MLS
20. Czech First Leage

* Based on Opta’s power rankings.

“He’s very strict,” he added. “He has orders. I think the things that I took from him were seeing how the locker room changed, with all the players respecting him as a legend, and I really liked that he really reminded me of my parents as well, because he was disciplined and strict; he asked for the things that he wanted.”

A native of Stillwater, Okla., Pukštas grew up in a demanding Croatian family with an Olympian father and had trials with Manchester United and Barcelona academies before linking up with Sporting Kansas City on the route to Croatia at 16, making his Hajduk debut at 17. 

Coming into the Championship, he will have to elevate his level from Croatia and contend with 27-year-old Australian midfielder Riley McGree for playing time as a No. 10, but he finds himself in a position to grow at a higher level.

The Need to Thrive in the EFL Championship

With the four Middlesbrough Americans, the club has become a central focus for a USMNT-based experiment, and the team’s success could heavily influence how U.S. players are involved in future moves to England’s second tier. 

Middlesbrough were clearly convinced by Aidan Morris’s first two years after joining the club from the Columbus Crew and have made a massive bet on bringing in Arfsten, Berhalter and centre-back Adilson Malanda from MLS, further influencing the rest of the league. 

If the MLS talents—and other U.S. players thrive this season, it could make for even stronger proof that players of their background can excel in the league, potentially luring more clubs into similar deals, with the hopes of finding their way up to the upper echelons of English soccer. 

While falling out of the World Cup in the round of 16 was anything but a success for the USMNT, the flood of transfers has been good news, with the English Championship’s embrace of North American talent taking center stage in the wake of World Cup disappointment.

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