Worst transfers in USMNT history: Which moves backfired for U.S. Soccer’s stars seeking bigger opportunities?

Usually the summer transfer window can be a time to look out at assessing possible new players who come in and different attacks for how they can work with their teams. Unless you are a masochist, that is. Looking at the movements that American players have made between clubs, there are a number of excellent people who have worked out to change the future of the national team of the United States. Things like Christian Pulisic to Borussia Dortmund and Clint Dempsey to Fulham come up in me.

There is also a laundry list with failed American movements that happened, and that is the atmosphere we are going to look at. What have some of the worst transfers ever done by American football players? Strap in because this list is a dozy.

5. Sebastian Soto to Norwich City (2023)

This is a bit of a deep cut, but the move from Sebastian Soto to Norwich was a stranger. Although he was a talented player, this was when work permits became more difficult to visit in England. Soto made the switch to a free transfer of Hanover with the aim of being lent to qualify for an English work permit that never came. After that happened when he was 20, he now went to four different clubs in four different countries and is currently without a club after his contract with Austria Klangenfurt went. Only 24, there is still time for his career to get back on the right track, but to move to stay with Norwich, could have made a good difference, not only in Soto’s career, but also in Josh Sargent, who also left Norwich.

4. Matt Turner to Arsenal (2022)

In the footsteps of Zack Steffen, who went to Manchester City as a back -up, Matt Turner made the switch to Arsenal to become a back -up keeper who left the revolution in New England. On paper this seemed good, because he would at least play in cup matches to keep him fresh for the USMNT, and there would be a lot of rotation, but that is not what happened. Turner only played seven in total matches for Arsenal between the Europa League and FA Cup before moving to Nottingham Forest, which in turn is a strange move. From a technical point of view, Turner could have three separate movements on this list, because he has only played a total of 24 football matches in England since leaving the revolution. It is impressive that he has held the number one shirt for the USMNT as long as he has after playing in such a low number of matches, but that could change for the World Cup 2026 if he does not get a regular playing time.

3. Ricardo Pepi to Augsburg (2022)

Ricardo Pepi’s relocation from FC Dallas to the Bundesliga shows that not all strange movements can end as career ending, but this was certainly a weird one, which lags FC Dallas for a team in the relegation zone. He made 16 performances for Augsburg in his time at the club before he was sent on loan to FC Groningen. That spell did enough to attract PSV’s attention, where Pepi has now been handed over the number nine sweater and this season will have great expectations, which is a sign of his own drive to penetrate a difficult adjustment to Europe and get out of it better.

2. Jozy Altidore to Sunderland (2013)

What if Jozy Altidore never left the Netherlands? At the top of his game with AZ Alkmaar, Altidore made the switch to the Premier League to become a member of Sunderland. In two years with The Black Cats, Altidore made 42 Premier League performances and only scored one goal, after scoring 50 goals in 93 performances for AZ in the Dutch top flight. Altidore would come back at his best with Toronto FC in Major League Soccer, but at the height of his career, those Sunderland years were lost.

1. Freddy Adu to Benfica (2007)

Freddy Adu stormed on stage and looked like the next big hope of American football after a sign at DC United in 2004 at 14. He would make his debut for the club and score his first goal in the same year, while even appearing MLS Cup victory in their 2004. He grew into a starter with DC United before he then moved to Real Salt Lake, where Benfica came into the picture. The Portuguese club paid $ 2.1 million for the midfielder, while the US U-20 coach at the time, Thomas Rongen, begged his agent not to make the move. That was a while beforehand a time when Adu would only make 21 performances with the club while he was lent four times and failed to return to MLS to become a member of the Philadelphia Union in 2011. Adu made 41 performances for the Union, but between 2004-2018 he came into the world in the world in the world in the world in the ninete countries in the ninete countries in the nineted countries A thoroughly disappointing career in the world in the world, a world of the world. age.