The 2024 summer transfer window closed on September 1st and more than a dozen Americans took a step in the two-month period. These players range from youth players, such as Mathias Albert, to experienced players such as John Brooks. Some moves were great, some weren’t. This article will discuss several of these transfers and determine whether they were a stock increase or a stock decrease.
Sergiño Dest & Malik Tillman to PSV-Stock Up
Both Dest and Malik Tillman were loaned (with option to buy) to PSV in the Eredivisie at the beginning of last season. Both had a great season where they could have gone to a better league this season. PSV decided to activate the purchase option of both players, making them regular players for the Dutch club. These are good moves in my opinion because Dest had a regrettable loan to Milan two seasons ago and a difficult relationship with Xavi Hernandez.
Dest needs another season (in his case half a season) at the Dutch club to develop, restore his young career and show clubs that he can compete in the UCL. The same goes for Tillman, who needs to further develop his attacking strength, work rate and ability to compete in the UCL. If both can repeat their performances from last season and/or take things a step further, they should return to a top 5 competition. (Note: Bayern has a buyback option for Malik Tillman)
Santiago snakes to Paderborn – stock up on supplies
The Tampa-born Colombian-American played in the 3. Liga with Duisburg last season where he played in 31 games with 2 goals and 2 assists. This season he is with Paderborn, a consistent 2. Bundesliga club, and has already scored a goal in five starts in all competitions. This is impressive when you realize that Santiago turns 20 years old on November 13e. American fans (who don’t follow USL closely) are only now getting to know him and some have probably already written him off because of his background.
He follows a similar path to Lennard Maloney, who played in both the 3. Liga and 2. Bundesliga before returning to the Bundesliga. In Santiago’s case, he started with Tampa Bay Rowdies in the USL Championship before moving to Duisburg. To further cement the move as he has moved up a class, he is also a CDM, a position the US has no depth in. Other American CDMs around his age (+/- 1 year old) include Daniel Edelman, Moses Nyeman, Marcel Ruszel, and Ethan Kohler (although he is being converted to a RB), to name a few. If he continues on this path, he could become the #1 American CDM in his age group, followed by Pedro Soma (who is 2 years younger than Santiago) in the next age group.
Paxten Aaronson to Utrecht – Stock Up
The Paris Olympian returns to the Eredivisie, but this time he joins fellow countrymen Taylor Booth and Rickson van Hees in Utrecht. Paxten had a successful half season at Vitesse, where he scored 4 goals in 14 appearances. As a CAM, he will compete against Gio Reyna and Malik Tillman (both only a year older) for a spot on the USMNT. Right now, he’s not beating either one, even with Gio’s injury proneness and Tillman’s lack of produceability for the USMNT.
Gio has had several great moments with the national team and Tillman is coming off a 24-goal season. A return to the Eredivisie would greatly benefit his development before he returns to Eintracht Frankfurt. And if he has a more productive season than Tillman, then there’s an argument for making Paxten the #2 CAM for the USMNT. Currently, Tillman has contributed 4 goals in 5 games in all competitions, in addition to Paxten’s 1 assist in 4 games.
Caleb Wiley to Chelsea on loan to Strasbourg-Stock Up
This is one of the players who needed a move this summer and could be upgraded. Caleb Wiley may have the highest ceiling among our U23 LBs. Now Strasbourg employs him more as a LWB, which in my opinion is his best position. Last season with Atlanta, Wiley started as LW, which led to fantastic form. When he moved to LB he became inconsistent and stagnant, but he played more as LWB and his form picked up again. Additionally, and when he turned 20 in December, he had to leave MLS.
We see what happens to players who stay in MLS too long, for example John Tolkin, who has struggled to transfer his club form to the USMNT, and Brandon Vazquez, who is now struggling to start for Monterrey and has disappeared from the USMNT picture. Playing in a top 5 league and developing into a LWB will help him unlock his full potential. Moreover, Wiley already has two starts, a half-time substitution and an assist for Strasbourg.
Rodrigo Neri to Atlanta 2 – Stocks down
This is one of the most disappointing moves for those following the USYNT U20 team and the future state of the USMNT forward position. Neri’s young career has taken a dramatic dip in just one year. He was part of the Atletico de Madrid academy since 2021, but left their U19 team for Valencia U19 to now Atlanta 2. Based on Be football, Neri scored 0 goals in just eleven games for both Spanish U19 teams. After seven games, Neri already has three goals and one assist for Atlanta 2. This could mean that he has improved, returned to his Atletico U19 B form (where he scored 17 goals in 32 games), and/or that MLSNP is weaker than División de Honor Juvenil (the league that Atleti U19 is a part of). Either way, we can already see that his lack of goals has affected his international career.
The last time he was part of the team was the U19/20 March camp against Morocco and England. He was left out of the CONCACAF U20 Championship ahead of Keyrol Figueroa and Marcos Zambrano. This is after being part of the U19 team that competed in the 2023 PanAm Games where he scored 1 goal in 5 matches. In addition, he had scored a goal against England and a goal against Norway when he was part of the U17 team in 2022. AS USA even had a piece on Neri in 2022, calling him the next big thing for the US.
Normally, such a drop would almost take you out of the international conversation, but knowing that US Soccer has a habit of signing MLSNP players like Sergio Oregel Jr. there is still a chance that Neri could be back in the conversation come the time of the 2025 U20 World Cup. The only positive about this move is that it could help him get his career back on track.
Vaughn Covil to Las Vegas – Stocks Down
This was the right move for Covil’s career. He only has the Philippines left for his international career. His chances with England would never materialise. Two or three years ago you could have said he had a chance with the US and even more so with Canada, with the right development. Now he better commit to the Philippines if he wants to have an international career.
It’s a drop because it would have been better for him to sign a deal with an EFL League 2 club rather than come to the USL Championship, and because he’s limited to just one national team instead of four. Hopefully he does well in Las Vegas and can be called up by the Philippines.
Jonathan Gomez to PAOK – Stock Down
This move is one of the most disappointing transfers of the summer by an American. While in Louisville and with the USYNT, he looked like a future LB/LWB option for the USMNT and another dual national battle with Mexico. When he moved to Real Sociedad and after his successful loan spell at Mirandes in La Liga 2, things took off. He left Real Sociedad (probably because they didn’t want to renew his contract, so they opted to sell him to make a profit) for reigning Greek champions PAOK. While it should have been positive that he played for a 1st division it is negative because it concerns the Greek Super League 1. PAOK also plays in the Europa League and that should have been positive for his career, but the Greek champions left him out of their UEL squad.
He’s still only 21 years old and if he does well enough for them, he could move up to a better league in a season or two. At this point, he has slipped out of the conversation to compete with Lund, Tolkin, and Wiley for the future #1 LB/LWB. To make matters worse, Caleb Wiley’s 2024/25 season has started well in Strasbourg with two starts and an assist. You could argue that JoGo was the better of the two at the LB/LWB position during the 2023 U20 World Championship, but now Wiley is above him on the depth chart.
Aidan Morris to Middlesborough – Stock Up
Like Caleb Wiley, Morris had to leave MLS to further his development and avoid the situation John Tolkin finds himself in. While Morris has been disappointing for the USMNT, he has the potential to be a consistent player on the 23-26 man roster. So far this season at Boro, he has been a standout and fast fan favourite. Going to the EFL Championship was one of the best choices he could have made for his next stop. The physicality of the competition will teach him how to become more physical and make quicker decisions. The development could easily put it in the top 4 CDM options for 2026.
The biggest question for him is whether he can transfer his great club form to the national team. If he succeeds, he could move ahead of Lennard Maloney and Tanner Tessmann, depending on how he does for Lyon this season. This is a top 3 move from an American player, not just because the season is going so far for him, but because Boro will be competing for promotion and development potential.
Tanner Tessman to Lyon – stock up
Tessmann’s transfer saga is one for the books. He was closely associated with Inter Milan and Fiorentina until both fell apart due to disagreements. Towards the end of the transfer window he secured a move to a top Ligue 1 club, Lyon. If he had stayed at Venezia he would still have been in the top five, but Lyon is the better option. Venezia will be fighting to stay in Serie A, as they will in 2021/22, while Lyon is consistently a top 10 French club, and in many cases a top 5 club.
Moreover, Lyon is in the UEL. The season is not going well for Lyon at the moment, but they can bounce back and compete for UEFA qualification. The club and the fans will be more demanding than Venezia because of their prestige. He can learn from experienced players like Matic and Veretout and for that he should compete for starting positions. It will be a real test for him after his last stint in a top 5 league didn’t go so well and two great seasons in Serie B.
All of this will help him take the next step and help him get into the top 3 of CDM USMNT conversations. The battle of Tessmann, Aidan Morris, Maloney, Johnny Cardoso and Tyler Adams (once he returns) for the top 2 CDM spots on the USMNT will be a joy to watch this season.
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