5 non-Lionel Messi MLS players to watch in the 2026 season

Analysis

The 2026 season is a huge one for MLS, as the United States, Canada, and Mexico are set to host the summer’s FIFA World Cup.

Some players will focus on doing all they can to secure a spot for their national teams, while other MLS talents will try to improve upon disappointing 2025 campaigns with their clubs.

From players looking to hold onto starting spots to those on the fringes who simply want to make the team, there are plenty of intriguing MLS storylines for the World Cup and beyond heading into the 2026 season.

Here, FootballTransfers brings you the five players to watch in the 2026 MLS season.

Matt Freese - New York City FC goalkeeper

A Philadelphia Union academy product — one of three on this list, coincidentally — Freese is in pole position to be the starting goalkeeper for the United States Men’s National Team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil.

Freese, who played two seasons at Harvard University, kept 11 clean sheets in 36 appearances, which ranked joint-third most in the league. He also finished second in MLS Goalkeeper of the Year voting and did not make an error leading to a goal all season.

If he can continue where he left off last season — his performance in NYCFC’s last match of the season, a 5-1 playoff defeat to Inter Miami, notwithstanding — he will hold onto his current status and be the man between the pipes when the USMNT takes the field in its World Cup opener against Paraguay on 12 June.

Jack McGlynn - Houston Dynamo central midfielder/winger

Jack McGlynn has a wand of a left foot and is capable of playing in midfield or cutting in from the right wing.

The Union academy product had his best season yet after joining Houston Dynamo from his boyhood club, scoring six goals with six assists in 26 MLS matches while earning a call-up to the USMNT for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

This season, the 22-year-old needs to show greater physicality and defensive intelligence, especially if he wants a spot in Mauricio Pochettino’s World Cup squad.

Emmanuel Latte Lath - Atlanta United striker

The second-most expensive MLS signing in league history behind Hueng-min Son, Emmanuel Latte Lath did not hit the ground running with Atlanta United after his €21.3m transfer.

Atlanta entered 2025 with some buzz surrounding it after signing Latte Lath and bringing back club legend Miguel Almiron from Newcastle to join designated player Aleksey Miranchuk, but the club finished joint-second bottom in the Supporters’ Shield standings with the league’s fourth-fewest goals scored.

Latte Lath scored seven goals in 30 appearances, which was fewer than Thomas Muller’s eight. Muller joined the Vancouver Whitecaps midseason and played in just 12 matches.

The Five Stripes’ three high-profile attackers are all in what should be their prime years. With Tata Martino back at the helm, the club will look to recapture the magic it experienced in the Argentine’s first spell in 2017 and 2018. Latte Lath scoring goals will be key to accomplishing that.

Paxten Aaronson - Colorado Rapids attacking midfielder

Philadelphia Union academy product Paxten Aaronson left the club at 19 years old after scoring four goals in 42 first-team appearances to join Eintracht Frankfurt, where he was unable to break into the senior side consistently.

He had a solid spell on loan to FC Utrecht, where he scored nine goals with six assists in all competitions, but Eintracht decided to sell him back to MLS, where he joined the Colorado Rapids for €7m.

Now 22 years old and the focal point of his club’s attack, Aaronson needs to show some improvement after just one goal in seven MLS appearances after returning to the league last summer.

If he can find a consistent end product in the first half of the season, there is a small chance he could join his brother, Leeds’ Brenden Aaronson, in the USMNT squad for the World Cup.

Jayden Nelson - Austin FC winger

In the 2025 season, Jayden Nelson saw more than half of his goal contributions come in the first MLS match of the season.

The Canadian winger scored a goal and contributed three assists in a 4-1 Vancouver Whitecaps win over the Portland Timbers. Having just returned to his native Canada after spells with Norway’s Rosenborg and Germany’s Ulm, it appeared that the Whitecaps had another star on their hands to help get more out of striker Brian White and attacking midfielder Ryan Gauld.

Fast forward to the end of the season, and Nelson had just two goals and five assists in 28 MLS appearances.

Nelson now gets a fresh start in Texas with Austin FC, which suddenly has one of the league’s most intriguing sets of attacking talent. Former Orlando City star Facundo Torres joined from Palmeiras, and Los Verdes also have versatile forward Myrto Uzuni and striker Brandon Vazquez on the books.

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