2025-2026 St. Louis CITY SC Off-Season Catch-All Thread

Yep. Both San Jose and Minnesota are in full self-destruct mode this offseason.

 

Matthew Doyle has an interesting team-by-team analysis of the Western Conference offseason moves and current rosters. Here is his conclusion:

What comes next: Both Bürki and Klauss can be bought down to TAM, which is significant for obvious reasons. And Girdwood-Reich is on loan with Auckland City; it’s not yet clear whether or not that opens up a U22 slot (my guess is Wray will figure something out).

But it’s just… there’s not a lot of maneuvering to do here. The real trick for Wray and new head coach Yoann Damet will be to get St. Louis – who are sitting atop a gold mine of local talent – to start approaching player development the way the Sounders or Philadelphia Union do.

If (when?) they manage that, this team has as high a floor as anybody in the league.​

 

Doyle bats about .500 most days.

He was wrong about Klauss, since he was already bought down last season. He's halfway wrong about Burki, since he can't be bought down this season but can be bought down in 2027. He's halfway right about the young talent, too.

 

Matt Baker reports that Josh Sargent has been demoted to the Norwich reserves, and either will never play for Norwich again or something or other. Tom Bogert is reporting that Sargent "ONLY wants Toronto" (his emphasis on "only"). Bogert's wording suggests that money isn't the reason he isn't looking at St. Louis or other teams. Bogert also reports that Sargent has a "relegation release clause" in his contract, and notes that Norwich is currently in the relegation zone.

 

Another Fall fell our way, and we didn't have to wait until Fall to get him.

 

CITY needs to trade Jake Girdwood-Reich, figure out if Henry Kessler can stay fit, solve the Cedric Teuchert situation, figure out where/if/how Chris Durkin fits in, get an answer on the "continuing discussions" with Minnesota about Devin Padelford (my hunch is it's a "no"), and assess the SuperDraft players. And do all that in now-time.

 

Miami needs GAM. We have GAM. Miami has Benjamin Cremaschi on loan to Italy through June, where he's buried deep on the bench. Do we want Cremaschi?

 

Matt Baker: CITY is still well under the cap limit and has two open international spots.

 

Damet is changing CITY's tactics. He won't use Wallem the way Critchley did. CITY hired Wray, promising more of the same old same old. It looks like Wray educated them, and Damet was hired to make the changes. If so, this is a different team. Better? Maybe. If Wray pulls this off, he's a contender for team exec of the year. If he doesn't, we're in the rut again.

 

The MLS just announced the transfer windows and transfer rules changes.

The Primary Transfer Window is January 26 to March 26.
The Roster Compliance date is February 9.
The Secondary Transfer Window is July 13 to September 2.
The Roster Freeze date is October 9.
The Canadian MLS teams will follow the US transfer window schedule.

The other rule changes are huge. They will open PlayerMart for business. Buckle the seatbelts, the MLS is gonna floor it.

MLS also announced amendments to the 2026 Roster Rules and Regulations that are now in effect for clubs:

• Elimination of limitations on the number of Cash for Player Trades a club can make each season.
• Elimination of age restrictions and limitations on the number of Intraleague Loans a club can make each season.
• Removed the deadline for a player to be considered a domestic player for a season instead of an international player.
• Clubs may agree that an International Roster Slot traded within or prior to the Primary Transfer Window will return to the original club on a specific date within the Secondary Transfer Window. These agreements must be definitive.
• Designated Players acquired via Cash for Player Trades in the Secondary Transfer Window may be added at the mid-season Designated Player Salary Budget Charge.
• Players who have appeared on a gameday roster are eligible to be placed in Supplemental Slot 31 as long as they meet the other Slot 31 requirements.

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One additional comment on the new rules. I'm really glad CITY hired Corey Wray. I don't think Lutz would have seen the opportunity in these new rules. Wray absolutely will.