Leagues Cup isn’t yet a one-stop shop for European and South American club scouts, but it could be — according to club sources — around MLS.
The 2025 Leagues Cup kicked off last month, marking the third year of its second era since its original launch in 2019. Club sources around MLS widely told ESPN that this “mid-season tournament” in its current two-nation format supports smaller Mexican teams who don’t normally play internationally, with a sprinkle of young MLS players who have burst onto the scene.
But sources said a new format this year, pinning MLS teams with their Mexican counterparts in the group stage and quarterfinals, does drive increased interest from those Mexican clubs.
“I will say that we definitely saw a big spike after playing against Tigres in the Champions Cup,” an MLS general manager told ESPN. “I think we have some guys on our roster that offer physical qualities that you don’t see on the regular in Liga MX, and I know there are a few teams who’re gonna look at a couple of our guys as we go into these next few games.
“But with respect to outbound interest, it’s really massive,” the source added. “I do think that there’s still a bit of uncertainty from the part of European clubs, and international clubs generally, about the level of MLS and the quality of our players. We’re starting to see a lot more players going from MLS to Europe for big money, which I think is a positive sign. And we’re seeing more players come from Europe in the prime of their careers.”
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In this summer alone, Vancouver Whitecaps transferred Ecuadorian winger Pedro Vite to Pumas UNAM in Liga MX for a reported $4.5 million. EFL Championship side Derby County signed U.S. men’s national team center forward Patrick Agyemang from Charlotte FC for a reported $7 million. CF Montréal’s Nathan Saliba is now at Anderlecht in Belgium and George Campbell is with West Bromwich Albion. All are under the age of 24 with at least three years in MLS.
But for Leagues Cup to play an impactful role in attracting European and South American club scouts to MLS and Liga MX talent, it will have to continue expansion, sources said, possibly depending on leagues outside the current duo.
Should Leagues Cup expand beyond North America?
One front office executive who has migrated from senior scouting and player recruitment roles in Europe and Asia to MLS said that although Leagues Cup isn’t yet at the level of the UEFA Europa League or Conference League from a scouting perspective, the expansion of the tournament to other leagues could make it so.
“The Leagues Cup is just Mexican and American teams right now,” an MLS technical director told ESPN. “I think over time, if they’re open to growing it — and maybe open it up to the wider South American market and maybe more Central American teams — it could probably garner a bit more interest than where it is right now, but it’s an interesting tournament.”
All 18 Liga MX teams participate in Leagues Cup. The 2025 tournament is the first year that all — the top nine from the Eastern Conference and top nine from the Western Conference, based on 2024 standings — are playing in the competition.
For now, this simply has an impact on possible player transfers across the U.S.-Mexican border, more so than transfers to Europe or South America.
“What I would say is I think it’ll be a different answer in a couple of weeks,” one Western Conference general manager said. “I think how some of our guys perform in Leagues Cup … that will have an outsized impact on interest in our players from Mexico.”
Facilitating Liga MX-MLS movement
More specifically, two MLS Cup-winning front office executives believe Leagues Cup provides a greater scouting benefit when assessing smaller Liga MX or MLS clubs.
“I don’t think players are being identified on the bigger teams in these tournaments, but the smaller teams, like the Mazatláns and the San Luises, that’s when these players are being picked up,” the technical director said.
Since July 2024, MLS impact players like center forwards Giorgos Giakoumakis and Franck Boli, as well as attacking midfielder Mateusz Bogusz and left back Omar Campos, have gone from Europe to MLS to Liga MX.
The latter two, in particular, started at LAFC. Through Leagues Cup, although not exclusive to it, MLS players are transferring to Liga MX clubs more frequently than before. There have been 22 permanent transfers from MLS to Liga MX since the Leagues Cup relaunched in 2023, compared to 15 permanent moves between 2019 and 2022.
“They’ve actually done a really good job of kind of using us as like a halfway station,” the Western Conference general manager said of Liga MX teams. “Whether it’s guys like Giakoumakis — who went to Atlanta (United), now Cruz Azul, or Bogusz who went down to Cruz Azul — we see these guys come from Europe, have success in MLS and then shortly thereafter are making considerably more money in Mexico. So I think it’s also big for European clubs, but it’s huge for Mexican clubs too.”
MLS players leveraging Leagues Cup for Europe, South America
But make no mistake, there is justification for player valuation in Leagues Cup, although MLS chief soccer officers say it is almost silly to think player discovery takes place during the mid-summer tournament. But to confirm that valuation? That’s different.
A New York City FC source said attacking midfielder Santiago Rodriguez’s performance in the 2024 Leagues Cup round of 16, scoring the game-winning goal in the 2-1 victory over Pumas, was “a top-three performance he had all of last season.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if performances like that put him onto the radar of those teams, so that when it came to January, he was considered as sort of one of the elite attacking midfielders and creative players in this hemisphere that obviously enabled him to move to Botafogo,” the club source said. “And so I certainly think that that has enabled more teams, maybe specifically in South America, who really do understand the level of Liga MX and they see our teams compete against them, and really recognize maybe how good some of the players are in MLS, in those moments and in those competitions.”
Who can cement value at Leagues Cup
Atlanta United homegrown Dominik Chong-Qui is receiving interest from a list of European clubs, a source told ESPN. The 17-year-old U.S. Under-18 national team member would be the second left back, after Chelsea’s Caleb Wiley, to make the jump from Atlanta to Europe.
Columbus Crew and U.S. men’s national team winger Max Arfsten has drawn interest from France’s Toulouse, according to L’Equipe. Like Agyemang, or more accurately, Nice’s Moïse Bombito, who arrived from the Colorado Rapids, Arfsten would be the next player to matriculate from college soccer and the MLS SuperDraft to Europe.
“Obviously, Rodrigo De Paul coming at 31 is a massive signing for the league,” one general manager said about Inter Miami CF’s recent Argentinian signing from Atlético Madrid. “Having Leagues Cup here every summer now, it’s something where I think MLS and Liga MX can show, ‘Here’s the talent in North America.’ I think it’s an opportunity, just as we go and scout, clubs from all over the world will see it as an opportunity to maybe find new talent.”