Transfers

What MLS clubs paid to sign players from abroad, what they were paid to sell them, and the fees clubs in the league paid each other. Clubs rarely announce fees; nearly every figure here is a press report, so these are anchors, not accounts. The record is thick from 2024 on and thin before, where only the deals later stories mention made it. The biggest fee in is $26.5M for Son Heung-Min (2025); the biggest out is $27M for Miguel Almiron (2019).

Sold abroad $100K $200K $500K $1M $2M $5M 2008: Brad Guzan, Chivas USA to Aston Villa, $1M 2007: Clint Dempsey, New England Revolution to Fulham FC, $4M 2007: Freddy Adu, Real Salt Lake to Benfica, $2M 2007: Josh Wolff, Sporting Kansas City to TSV 1860 München, $0.19M 2004: DaMarcus Beasley, Chicago Fire to PSV Eindhoven, $2.5M 2004: Brian McBride, Columbus Crew to Fulham FC, $1.5M 2003: Tim Howard, New York Red Bulls to Manchester United, $4M 2000: Eddie Lewis, San Jose Earthquakes to Fulham FC, $2.3M 1998: Brad Friedel, Columbus Crew to Liverpool, $2.5M 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996

Click or tap a mark to see what it is.

Transfer fees by season, one mark per cash deal in dollars, on a logarithmic scale: each gridline step is a doubling or more.

The biggest fees for American players

Every cash fee on record for a player whose bio gives his nationality as American, biggest first. Nationality comes from the player's soccerstats.us bio; a player whose bio is not in yet is missing from this list until it is, so it grows as bios are added.

season player from to move fee reported sources
2007 Clint Dempsey New England Revolution Fulham FC out $4M — 1 2
2003 Tim Howard New York Red Bulls Manchester United out $4M 1 2
2004 DaMarcus Beasley Chicago Fire PSV Eindhoven out $2.5M 1 2
1998 Brad Friedel Columbus Crew Liverpool out $2.5M 1
2000 Eddie Lewis San Jose Earthquakes Fulham FC out $2.3M — 1
2007 Freddy Adu Real Salt Lake Benfica out $2M 1
2004 Brian McBride Columbus Crew Fulham FC out $1.5M — 1
2008 Brad Guzan Chivas USA Aston Villa out $1M 1
2004 Bobby Convey D.C. United Reading out £0.9M — 1 2
2007 Josh Wolff Sporting Kansas City TSV 1860 München out $0.19M 1 2

The season is the first one a move affects, so a winter sale is filed under the next year. The fee is the headline figure: the flat fee, or the guaranteed part before add-ons; up to is the most it can reach with them. Allocation money is league budget room traded between clubs, not cash. A bid is an offer that was turned down or came to nothing. Reported is the date of the earliest source. Sources are numbered links to the reports.