USMNT transfer grades: Arfsten gets a B+ for Boro move

For the past year, the prospect of the FIFA World Cup meant that all but the truly elite players in the world's game had to view potential transfers through the lens of their international careers. If a player made an ambitious move to a big club but ultimately didn't make the grade and their playing time declined, a place in their national team might no longer be a certainty. If a player chose to cash in on a mega-money move to a league outside soccer's historic best, perhaps that weaker level of competition pushes them off the radar of their international manager. Those are big risks to take with a lifelong dream of a tournament on the horizon. Now, though? The next World Cup is four years away, and players can take chances knowing that they have four full seasons of club football to rectify any less-than-ideal situations. Already, several players in the U.S. men's national team player pool have changed club allegiances -- including a handful who featured for Mauricio Pochettino this summer. So with the transfer market in full swing and American players primed to make moves, ESPN assesses every done deal completed by a player in the USMNT pool and assigns a letter grade. All fees are reported unless confirmed with an asterisk. Aug. 4 Max Arfsten | 25 | Left wingback Columbus Crew to Middlesbrough: $7.5m (€6.5m) Grade: B+ It's an American party at Middlesbrough, with Arfsten joining Sebastian Berhalter and Aidan Morris at the North Yorkshire club. The 25-year-old heads to Boro for $7.5 million, according to The Athletic, and he too will jump into the club's pursuit of Premier League promotion. Arfsten is a very good two-footed attacker, but he's limited defensively, which makes finding the right club for him a bit tricky. Anyone who signs him has to be able to cover in behind him, and Boro are perfectly suited for that. Kim Hellberg often plays with three at the back, using attack-minded wingbacks that should mean Arfsten slots right in. Even when Boro do go more conservative and play with more traditional fullbacks, Hellberg makes allowances for them so Arfsten should still be able to get forward from his left back spot. Arfsten should also have a good chance to unseat Matt Targett as Boro's first-choice option on the left and show off his array of attacking talents for a team that was already fourth in the Championship in goals a year ago. If the Californian can add a little bit more, that might be the difference between promotion and another year in the second division. Arfsten made the U.S. World Cup team but played just a single minute in the tournament. He'll always be a more matchup-dependent selection because he's not a traditional left back, but if he shows that he can be relied upon a bit more on defense while still driving to support the attack down the wing, he could play a much bigger role for Mauricio Pochettino going forward, especially with Antonee Robinson creeping toward 30 years old. Gio Reyna | 23 | Attacker Borussia Mönchengladbach to Strasbourg: $5m (€4m) Grade: B Reyna's disappointing stint at Gladbach that saw him play fewer than 600 minutes is over and now he's on his fourth club since January 2024, joining Strasbourg with the hope of getting his career back on track. The New York City FC academy alumnus was arguably the most accomplished and exciting young player the U.S. has ever had when he was lighting it up alongside Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham at Borussia Dortmund, but injuries have taken their toll on Reyna's career. He hasn't played 1,000 minutes in a season since he turned 20 and when he does play, he has been much slower. Still, his technical skill remains. There's a reason clubs continue to take chances on Reyna, and Mauricio Pochettino's controversial decision to include him on the World Cup roster paid off with his sublime trivela goal in the win over Paraguay. He has ability with the ball that maybe no American man has ever had, and if he can ever find fitness, he could be an incredible asset for both club and country. Strasbourg is Reyna's latest opportunity to get right, with the slower pace of Ligue 1 potentially offering him a welcome respite from the speed of the Bundesliga and Premier League, where he has played previously. The club is owned by Chelsea's parent company, so players from the Premier League side are constantly being funneled, but they haven't signed anyone in the attacking midfield spot that should block Reyna. In fact, they are reportedly entertaining offers for Julio Enciso, potentially clearing out room in that part of the pitch. It's hard to believe that Reyna is going to get a consistent run of matches anywhere right now considering his recent history, but this could be the move that opens the door to him reestablishing himself so his tremendous talent can shine again. It's just a question of whether his body cooperates. July 28 Sebastian Berhalter | 25 | Midfielder Vancouver Whitecaps to Middlesbrough: $2m (€1.75m) Grade: A- You wouldn't think that the Whitecaps, who lead the Western Conference and are in the Supporters' Shield race, would part with their star midfielder and undercut their chances of lifting their first major MLS trophy. That's especially true when the fee is reported to be around only $2 million, according to The Athletic, but Berhalter's contract in Vancouver was set to expire in December and the Whitecaps opted to get something for him while they could. This move puts Berhalter squarely in a promotion battle, with Middlesbrough coming off a fifth-place finish and making a slew of signings with the money generated from Hayden Hackney's transfer to Everton. Hackney's departure is both a blessing and a curse for Berhalter, as it gives him a great chance to start every week for Boro alongside fellow American Aidan Morris, but expectations will also be high because he has to replace such a good player. Berhalter is a tremendous ball striker and his ability to ping it will be an asset both from open play and on set pieces, and he's a fiery player who isn't afraid of physicality, so the adjustment to the Championship and a promotion battle should suit him just fine. The question for Berhalter has been whether he has the athleticism and ability to hang in the middle of the pitch over 90 minutes at a high level, and this will be a big test of that. If he excels at Boro, not only could he find himself playing in the Premier League in a year's time, but he also will position himself for a regular role in the U.S. midfield. July 9 Bryan Reynolds | 25 | Right back KVC Westerlo to Stade Rennais: $5m (€4m) Grade: B- There was a time when it looked as if Reynolds might be the future at right back for the U.S., having impressed enough as a teenager at FC Dallas to earn a move to AS Roma. That hasn't quite panned out, with Reynolds playing only six times in Serie A and having last appeared for the U.S. in 2023, but the 25-year-old has quietly built a nice career in Europe and is now moving from Westerlo in Belgium to Stade Rennais in France. Reynolds should have a chance to play regularly at Rennais after the club cycled through out-of-position right backs for much of last season. Whether it was Przemyslaw Frankowski, Alidu Seidu, Mahamadou Nagida or Mousa Al-Tamari, they were playing center backs, left backs and midfielders at right back. Now Reynolds comes in as an established player at the position who can play in a back four. But the player who grew up as a forward can also push into a wingback role when the French club goes three in defense, as they did at times last season. Stade Rennais are coming off a sixth-place finish in Ligue 1 and are only two years removed from six consecutive seasons in European competitions, so this is a meaningful step up for Reynolds and a chance to test himself at a higher level than he has been at since he was at Roma. It's a big opportunity for the Texan, who has stabilized his career, carved out a real reputation for himself and now could even find his way back to the national team if he shows that he's up to the level in Ligue 1. July 2 Diego Kochen | 20 | Goalkeeper Barcelona to Lyngby Boldklub: Loan Grade: A Kochen has long been a target of fascination for U.S. fans, having come through Barcelona's La Masia academy, but the 20-year-old hasn't had much of a professional career yet with only 37 appearances with the club's B team. That should change this season, with the goalkeeper heading to Lyngby Boldklub in Denmark on loan. Lyngby Boldklub were just promoted to the Danish top flight and have immediately put Kochen into the lineup to start their season. If that continues, it will make it a successful loan because the priority for the goalkeeper at this point is simply playing. The U.S. was burned by shaky goalkeeping at the World Cup as Matt Freese struggled, but uneven play between the sticks has become the norm for the team. The Americans haven't had a reliable backstop since Tim Howard at the 2014 World Cup and there's no obvious answer to the problem now, so what they need is to cast as wide of a net as possible and cross their fingers someone good comes along. Kochen is part of that wide net. Though he hasn't played much at the professional level, he has played at every youth national team level, Mauricio Pochettino has tapped him in for training camps and Barcelona thought enough of him to make him their third goalkeeper last season, in addition to his time with their reserve team. He's only 20 years old and now he's going to be playing full time in a serious European first division. If Kochen performs well at Lyngby, he's going to put himself in a position to make a move to a higher level next summer and maybe be the future in goal for the U.S. Now he's at a club where he's going to get every opportunity to make good on years of expectations.