Football icon Son Heung-min leads way as MLS smashes transfer spending record

LOS ANGELES: Major League Soccer clubs smashed the league’s transfer spending record in 2025, laying out about $336 million on player acquisitions led by LAFC’s blockbuster acquisition of Son Heung-min from Tottenham, the league told Reuters this week.

The total outlay was nearly double the previous MLS record of $188 million set in 2024 and would have ranked eighth among global leagues last year, ahead of Mexico’s Liga MX and Argentina’s Primera Division. It represents a 75 percent year-on-year increase in spending.

MLS teams broke the league’s individual transfer fee record three times in 2025, most recently by LAFC’s reported $26.5 million deal for South Korea captain Son, followed by Atlanta United’s acquisition of Emmanuel Latte Lath for $22 million and FC Cincinnati’s move for Kevin Denkey at $16.3 million.

Eight clubs set new internal transfer records, with Austin FC doing so twice, while nearly half of MLS teams have completed a club-record signing in the past two years.

There were 169 international arrivals in 2025, spanning 50 countries and averaging 25.2 years of age.

Top-flight leagues most targeted by MLS sides included Brazil (11 signings), Argentina (10), England (8) and Portugal (8). Teams executed at least eight deals worth $10 million or more.

From Jan. 1 to Feb. 4 – typically MLS’s busiest window – the US ranked sixth worldwide in transfer expenditure at $145 million and seventh in revenue at $125 million, with outgoing fees up 126 percent versus the same period in 2024.

Seven players departed MLS for fees of at least $10 million in 2025, and nine clubs set new records for outgoing transfers.

The league said its new “cash-for-player” trade rule, introduced in January, has reshaped intra-league