From Alex Freeman landing at Villarreal to Ricardo Pepi failing to join Fulham: USMNT winners and losers of the January transfer window

It's too soon to judge what this means for Freeman's World Cup spot and/or role, but, when judging this transfer, it's important to look at the big picture.

Just a year ago, Freeman was a 20-year-old Orlando City academy product hoping to get some starts in MLS. Now, he's the 21-year-old subject of a multi-million dollar transfer to one of Spain's biggest clubs. "Meteoric rise" is often a cliche. Not here. Not when you move through various phases of a career as quickly as Freeman did.

The move is a big one, too. At Villarreal, he'll compete for a spot with one of Spain's best teams, one that clearly has a plan for him. The club could have waited until the winter and signed him for free once his contract with Orlando ended. Instead, they paid to bring him in now, indicating that he might just be pretty important to their present as well as their future.

In general, though, this is as good as it gets as Freeman gets a dream move after a strong 2025.

To be clear, there's still plenty of time for Sargent's potential move to Toronto to happen. Considering his focus is reportedly on MLS and not Europe, the close of this particular transfer window never really had much to do with him. He's on this list, though, because things have gotten messy, and no one ever wants that.

It remains to be seen if it all pays off and, if it does, the ends will almost certainly justify the means. Sargent seems deadset on heading to Toronto FC. Norwich seem locked in on that not happening. That's where the ongoing standoff is at and it has seen the striker left out of the team altogether after some tense meetings with the club's leadership.

It's all just gotten ugly, which is sad given how important Sargent has been for the club since he arrived. Now, we'll all have to see how this gets resolved and, hopefully, if it can be resolved relatively painlessly.

No American player needed a move more than Downs, and he got a really good one, too.

Stuck on the bench at Southampton, Downs went out on loan to Hamburg in January and instantly went right into the starting XI. Instead of doing nothing in the Championship, he's now playing regularly in the Bundesliga, which is vitally important for a 21-year-old striker. Now, it hasn't been a dream start, as Downs remains goalless, but the fact that he's playing is a huge step up after not seeing the field at all in December in England.

Downs is probably on the outside looking in for the World Cup roster at the moment. With much of that race centered on the Championship, though, Downs is now in a better league with more playing time and more opportunities to impress. That's the whole goal of a move, right?

After yet another January-long saga, Pepi got close again. In the end, the fee was agreed between Fulham and PSV, and it all depended on the Dutch club getting a replacement in time. It didn't happen, so Pepi's staying right where he is for another transfer window.

In reality, it might not matter too much. Pepi's out until March anyway with an arm injury and, even without him, PSV look on pace to run away with an Eredivisie title. Suitors will surely return in the summer, particularly if Pepi makes some noise at the World Cup. Still, it's no doubt a bummer for the USMNT striker, who came very close to a big Premier League move.

So much comes with that move: money, prestige, a whole new level of soccer. It has, at the very least, been delayed, and it was almost exclusively out of Pepi's hands.

There were several returns this winter. After spending last season on loan with San Diego FC, Luca de la Torre is back in MLS with Charlotte FC. Griffin Yow came home, too, signing with the New England Revolution after a stint at Westerlo. Cade Cowell is with the Red Bulls now after several years at Chivas.

Notably, though, MLS also kept hold of most of the league's young talent. Even with Freeman's departure, names like Diego Luna, Max Arfsten and Sebastian Berhalter remain in MLS, which means that the league will have several players vying for World Cup spots right up until this summer's tournament.

We don't yet know what Mauricio Pochettino's World Cup squad will look like or how he'll choose it. Thus far, though, he hasn't disqualified players plying their trade in MLS. Even now, after the transfer window, several regulars remain in the league, which means they'll be on the field leading up to the World Cup and, perhaps, bigger transfer fees for the league after a summer showcase at the world's biggest tournament.