Josh Sargent to Toronto FC: What reported $27 million move means for TFC, USMNT and MLS

We can separate this move into two buckets: off the field and on it.

Off the field, Sargent clearly wanted this. He has a young family that he seemingly wanted to bring closer to home. The 26-year-old striker left home as an 18-year-old kid in 2017. He returns to North America now as a man with three kids. On a human level, that means something.

On the field, though, there are obvious pros and cons. On the positive side, he just made a massive transfer to join a team where he will be the face of the franchise, and, as a striker, that's all you ever really want. Sargent will have responsibility and weight on his shoulders, yes, but he'll also have the status that comes with it.

As for the USMNT, Sargent was in a tough spot even before the move. The World Cup dream was fading, largely due to his struggles when he did put on a USMNT shirt. Did Sargent weigh that before coming to MLS? Surely. However, it does seem that the road to the USMNT squad this summer did get a bit harder, which was seemingly a trade-off Sargent was willing to make to get all of the other benefits that do come with this big transfer.

Toronto FC are no strangers to taking big swings on USMNT stars. Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore remain club legends, two of the faces of the club's brightest era. The club has taken a noticeable dip since that era, with the most recent one, which was led by Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi, going about as poorly as it possibly could have.

The club began to rectify that last year, moving to sign Djordje Mihailovic from the Colorado Rapids. Now, with the big swing to sign Sargent, the club has a striker to play in front of him to accelerate that rebuild. Add in the signings of players like Walker Zimmerman, Jose Cifuentes and Emilio Aristizabal, too, as TFC have rebuilt most of its spine.

Will it be enough to contend in 2026? It's too soon to tell, but the club has certainly been aggressive in rebuilding the squad while also leaving space for one or two more big swings going forward.

There is a scene in Zombieland where Woody Harrelson's character wipes his tears away with a stack of money. That's what life will be like at Norwich right now.

Norwich are getting an up-front fee of $22 million (£16.3m), with add-ons potentially taking that to $27m (£20m). It is an absolutely colossal haul, particularly for a player who hasn't played for them in weeks, as everyone looked to sort this thing out. The numbers would make Sargent the club's sixth-biggest sale, and by far the biggest to a club outside of Europe. That's significant.

Will money, particularly post-transfer window money, help Norwich this season? No. They still face a fight against relegation, and if they lose that fight, spending that money will become pretty difficult. Currently in 18th place, Norwich can use some breathing room, although they have gotten better results of late.

If those results hold and they do stay in the Championship, they'll have a significant chunk of cash to spend in the summer to fix what's plagued them this year. If that happens, they'll be just fine without Sargent going forward.

It's been more than a decade since the likes of Bradley, Altidore and Clint Dempsey redefined American soccer by leaving Europe for MLS. Those moves were, in more ways than one, gamechangers. It showed American players that there was a life to be made back home if desired, one that would challenge players competitively and pay them handsomely for their troubles.

There's been plenty of discussion about whether or not we'll see such a movement again. With the 2026 World Cup looming, the faces of the USMNT will become more famous than ever this summer. Is it in MLS' best interest to bring them home? Is it in the players' best interest to come home? Ultimately, we won't know the answers to those questions any time soon, but Sargent's move is a reminder of MLS viability, particularly for American stars. 

Sargent isn't the first, of course. Paxten Aaronson arrived just last summer, leaving Germany for Colorado. Griffin Yow, a 2024 Olympian, left Belgium for the New England Revolution. USMNT veteran Ethan Horvath and up-and-comer Cade Cowell are both now in MLS, while World Cup veterans like Tim Ream, Luca de la Torre, and Matt Turner are all stateside now, too. Sargent is just the latest among them, and the one that commanded the heftiest fee.

The fact that an MLS club is willing to spend close to $30 million to sign a player on the fringes of the USMNT's World Cup roster is a statement. The fact that the league keeps adding stars, regardless of nationality, is a statement, too. MLS is a legitimate landing spot these days, which is one of the reasons Sargent, a player who could have gone to the Bundesliga just this past summer, chose to land there.

MLS clubs will surely take some bigger swings after this summer's tournament. This Sargent signing, then, is a precursor, one that could be indicative of a new trend in the coming years.