The USMNT\u2019s European footprint has rarely been deeper, with more than 50 American players spread across UEFA rosters as the 2026-27 season begins. From the Championship to Serie A and beyond, several key names are set to shape the year ahead.<\/p>\n
Sebastian Berhalter enters the spotlight after what could be described as the best spell of his Major League Soccer career, outside of Lionel Messi in 2025 and 2026. His blend of defensive work, fast transitions, accurate long passing and the ability to score from distance made him central to Vancouver Whitecaps\u2019 rise over the last 18 months. After standing out at the 2026 World Cup, he has now joined Middlesbrough and has already marked his competitive debut with an assist against Wrexham in the Carabao Cup first round.<\/p>\n
Berhalter is not the only USMNT-linked name at Middlesbrough, with Aidan Morris and Max Arfsten also in the squad. The club are aiming for Premier League promotion after losing the EFL Championship promotion play-off final to Hull City last season.<\/p>\n
At Villarreal, midfielder-turned-wide option Diego Luna? No. The draft instead points to Freeman, who joined midway through 2025-26 and now begins his first full European campaign. He scored against Australia at the World Cup and completed 90 minutes in four of five matches. Although his La Liga minutes have been limited so far, he is expected to take a step forward under I\u00f1igo P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n
Folarin Balogun\u2019s situation remains unsettled. He is contracted to Monaco, where he scored 13 league goals last season, but has also been linked with Tottenham Hotspur, clubs in the Bundesliga, Saudi Arabia and T\u00fcrkiye. Whether he stays or moves, he should remain one of the more compelling USMNT forwards to follow, especially with Monaco heading into the Conference League.<\/p>\n
Christian Pulisic also enters a pivotal season with AC Milan. Injury issues and uneven international form have clouded the picture, but he remains one of the USMNT\u2019s leading figures. Milan finished fifth last season and eighth the year before, leaving Pulisic with both personal and collective ground to recover.<\/p>\n
Finally, Zavier Gozo appears set for Crystal Palace from Real Salt Lake. The 18-year-old uncapped prospect is not expected to be an immediate regular, but he could still see Premier League minutes this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Berhalter, Freeman, Balogun, Pulisic and Gozo are among the USMNT names to track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[465,172],"tags":[1047,1458,59],"class_list":["post-18461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crystal-palace","category-epl","tag-champions-league","tag-championship","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}