MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 08: Sergio Perez of Mexico and Oracle Red Bull Racing talks with Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner in the garage prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at the Miami International Autodrome on May 08, 2022 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202205082590 // Usage for editorial use only //
It’s the nature of the beast, isn’t it? In this sport of ours, the world is always wondering ‘what’s next’? The present rarely feels as important as the future, especially when everyone in the game is one big move away from changing it all.
So, even with the MLS Playoffs underway, there is already one eye looking towards the winter months and the transfer window that comes with them. These are the games that really count, the ones that make the difference between failure and that ever-elusive MLS Cup. They’re also the games that could earn players life-changing moves as suitors watch on to see how they handle these big moments.
As the postseason continues, several players will almost certainly be playing their final MLS matches. Others, in the coming months, will see both their own and their team’s resolve tested by suitors overseas. Transfer season is coming, and recent history tells us that MLS will be a target for many of Europe’s elite.
This is the big one, so we’ll get him out of the way early. Thiago Almada is only 22 and already owns a World Cup winner’s medal. He’s learned from Lionel Messi and established himself as one of the next stars of the Argentina national team. All of that points to one fact: he isn’t long for MLS.
It was rumored that he would leave Atlanta this past winter after tasting glory in Qatar. The rumors continued into the summer, although they never turned into anything concrete. But after a season that saw him score 11 goals while assisting 16 more, can Atlanta keep hold of him any longer?
Almada may already have gotten everything he could need out of MLS, and it does feel like a miracle thatthe league helped him develop into a World Cup-winner so soon. The next step, though, is to become an Argentina starter, and that leap will likely have to come with a move to a bigger league overseas.
John Tolkin has already written his name into Red Bull lore with his heroics in the final week of the season. The club’s fan-voted Player of the Season stepped up and fired his hometown team to the postseason, scoring a dramatic stoppage-time penalty against Nashville SC to pull off the impossible.
He followed that up with a stunning free-kick in the Wild Card win over Charlotte, furthering his legacy at a club that has built itself on Homegrown stars in recent years.
Tolkin clearly has the clutch gene. He also has the confidence and mentality to take him far. The young leftback is a player that is seemingly destined for a big move, and it seems like this winter will be when that happens.
As things stand, he’s right on the fringes of the U.S. men’s national team, and with the Copa America looming, a move to Europe seems like it’ll be what Tolkin needs to further his career at both club and international level.
