‘I want to go down as the best defender in MLS history’ - Walker Zimmerman on why he joined Toronto FC and aiming for another USMNT World Cup push

For all of the things Zimmerman has accomplished in his career, this whole free agency thing was totally foreign to him. He'd moved a few times, yes, but always via trade. He can admit it now that the process is over: he had absolutely no clue how this whole thing was going to get started.

"I didn't know how it worked," Zimmerman tells GOAL with a laugh. "I was like, 'Are they just gonna be calling me right when it opens?'"

As it turns out, yeah, that's basically how it worked. Toronto was one of the first clubs to reach out and, from the moment they did, Zimmerman dove into his research. How would he fit? What kind of culture were they building? Where would he fit into that culture? What could he do to enhance it?

"You kind of have an idea of how teams play, what their needs are, what center backs are at the club, so I knew, as a club, they might be looking for a center back," he says. "I did further research about the team and watched some of their clips of how they ended their season. That's the soccer side of it. You want a club that's ambitious, willing to spend, and willing to try to do everything they can to win. Toronto checked that box. I think that they underachieved based on the talent that they had, so I think the only way to go for them is up, relative to where they have finished the last two, three years."

"You want to get to a team that's competitive, where you can shine and show your quality," he added. "World Cup year, trying to get into that team, this is a place I think I can shine and show the best version of myself."

The club believes that, too. Toronto is in the midst of a rebuild, one that, in truth, began midway through last season. Lorenzo Insigne, the face of the previous era, is long gone. In his place, the club handed the keys to one of Zimmerman's Olympic teammates, Djordje Mihailovic, after a midseason trade. Reports say the club is preparing to swing big for fellow USMNT regular Josh Sargent. For a club the size and stature of Toronto, there's no time to waste. The teardown and rebuild have to work for one of MLS's most passionate fanbases.

Zimmerman is a key part of that rebuild, one the club hopes will return them to the playoffs for the first time since 2020. All good teams start with a strong foundation. By signing Zimmerman, the club has added one of the most reliable central figures in MLS history.

"It could be a transformative signing," Toronto FC head coach Robin Fraser said at Zimmerman's introductory press conference. "I see it as a potentially such because it's a rare combination to get that much ability along with what I consider the right personality."

"These are all things that you'd think might be easy to find, but they're not...To find actual leaders, I think, is very difficult to do. And I think we've found not just a good leader but a great leader."

That leadership is something that Zimmerman takes pride in, and while he didn't necessarily seek out a place to exercise it, he is glad that he has the opportunity to emerge as one of the key voices for this Toronto FC team.

Even now, nearly two years after the fact, members of the 2024 Olympic team rave about Zimmerman and what he meant to their young careers. For many of the U-23 players on that team, that summer in Paris was their first major tournament. Zimmerman was brought in as an overage player, and the younger members of that team weren't fully sure what to expect. Would Zimmerman step into the team and tell everyone how to do things, or would he simply be one of the guys?

As it turned out, it was way more of the latter. Everyone left Paris that summer feeling like they had a new older brother, one who could give it out just as well as he could take it.

"Honestly, it's a big credit to him," defender John Tolkin told GOAL this summer. "I think it's just who he is. It must have been hard being that older guy on the team. Obviously, it's a younger team and maybe hard to fit in, but he was one of us. He's 30-something with the heart of a 20-year-old. He was the perfect overage guy for us on the team."

"He was such a good guy to have," Houston Dynamo star and fellow Olympian Jack McGlynn added. "He was the perfect leader for us. You couldn't imagine a better overage guy than him. He helped us take everything in, and then he helped us get through everything."

For Zimmerman, the ability to be a leader for a new team is something he has already embraced several times. After breaking through with FC Dallas, he arrived at LAFC as a key part of their expansion season. He did the same thing for Nashville SC, becoming an integral piece of their first years in MLS. Toronto FC isn't an expansion team; they're one with an established culture and a history of winning. Zimmerman is excited to be a part of that and help add to it in any way he can.

"It's a role that I'm super comfortable with," he said of being a leader. "It's about making sure that it's never me above anyone else. How can I come along to support them, lift them up? At the same time, I have to make sure they can look at me and how I'm approaching my everyday and say, 'Oh, this guy is legit and he wants his habits to be held to a certain standard'. Off the field, and even on the field, I want to be approachable. I think that's the No. 1 thing."

That process has already begun. Zimmerman has created a crash course for himself, determined to learn every teammate’s name before preseason. This time, though, those early connections matter more than ever - because without them, he would be heading into the season feeling alone.

There were many factors that went into choosing Toronto FC: fit, culture, the ability to make that push for a World Cup. Throughout the research process, Zimmerman found two negatives. Traffic was one but, he's played in LA before so that's manageable. The other one was his personal life. Due to circumstances, he was going to have to do this alone for a while.

Throughout the first few months of 2026, Zimmerman will be flying solo in Toronto. His wife is due in late April and early May, which prevents the Zimmermans from doing a big move. It will also prevent them from travelling to see the family's patriarch once the season really gets going. Zimmerman has faced plenty of challenges in his career, but this will be one of the more unique.

The East Coast made sense, then, to mitigate some of those factors. Zimmerman also raved about the experiences he's already had with Toronto's player care side. Care packages have been sent, restaurants have been booked, and Zimmerman has already been made to feel welcome. Despite the difficulties, he says he knows he and his family will be taken care of.

"This season is going to be so different for me than any other season in my career, solely for the fact that I'm gonna be doing it, for the majority, away from my family," he says. "It's gonna be hard, on a personal level, for sure. I want to make sure that I'm there for them, that obviously they can come and visit as much as possible, but there's a whole other side to professional athletes' lives that is personal. Judge me all you want for whatever I do on the field, no problem, but at the same time, it is about recognizing that we are human beings and we do have things that are difficult. I think just caring for each other as humans is important, too. 

Zimmerman said the hardest part away from the field will be navigating time apart from his family - something he hasn’t experienced before. Being away from children who are now old enough to understand his absence is a new challenge, one he’s still learning how to manage. He added that he’s open to advice from anyone who has faced similar circumstances, noting that it’s a personal struggle many people may not fully see or consider.

"If anyone has any tips from doing it before, military personnel or anything, I'm all ears," he says. 

The hope is, then, that these initial months of difficulties will be all worth it, and there are certain achievements that Zimmerman can get to ensure he looks back and says it was.

The one message that USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino has repeatedly sent is that everyone is still in it. No one is on the World Cup team. No one is off it, either. Everything is constantly up for grabs, and it will be right up until he submits that final squad.

Zimmerman hasn't been involved in the USMNT's last few camps. He was there throughout the Gold Cup, primarily backing up Chris Richards and Tim Ream, but, at the moment, he is, at the very best, fighting on the fringes for a center back spot. That fight motivates him, though. After getting a taste of the 2022 World Cup, Zimmerman is desperate for one more crack at the world's biggest tournament, and he believes that dream is very much alive.

"I know that if I'm at my best, I will make it hard," he says. "I'll make a decision hard for them, and that's what I have to control, what I can control, which is get to my best. I have to show them that I'm fit, healthy, and ready to help the team in whatever capacity I can. 

"Ultimately, I can live with that. I can get to my best. I can control how I can help the team and then let them make the choice, but I need to make it hard for them, and that's the job that I have to do. That starts with having a hot start, come out flying, come out healthy, playing well for the club, and that's what will get you onto that roster."

That’s only one of the forces motivating Zimmerman right now. It’s the biggest, yes - but this move to Toronto carries more than just national-team implications. There’s a club to rebuild, expectations to meet, and sacrifices that have to prove worthwhile.

"One day, I'll reflect when it's all said and done," he says. "Until then, I'm still trying and trying to be the best, the absolute best, version of myself every single season and every single game."

That'll happen in a new shirt and in a new country this season. Zimmerman's belief, though, is that not too much will change on the field. The performances, intangibles and expectations will stay the same. They have to.