In European soccer, the end of January is often marked by a flurry of deals and transfers across all its leagues. Teams are looking to shore up their squads with key players in a push to win their respective leagues, qualify for the Champions League, or simply not get relegated.
For American players on both sides of the Atlantic, it was a quiet Deadline Day. But there were still some notable storylines involving some youngsters who we may see at the 2026 World Cup.
Here are my four takeaways:
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As late as Sunday night, it looked as though Pepi was headed to the English Premier League with Fulham. The Cottagers had been chasing the rangy striker all window and apparently had finally relented and met PSV Eindhoven’s asking price of more than $40 million for the 23-year-old striker — only for the deal to collapse by Monday morning because PSV didn’t have time to replace the Texan.
As disappointed as Pepi is sure to be with the decision — the reported explanation makes little sense since he’s sidelined until mid-March anyway with a broken arm — it could actually boost his World Cup chances.
The Premier League’s relentless physicality is especially difficult to adapt to mid-season, and Pepi would’ve had just two months to make his mark before Pochettino names his final 26-man squad.
No guarantee there. But Pepi, who just missed out on a World Cup trip in 2022, is a proven marksman in the wide-open Dutch league. He’s all but certain to bag a boatload of goals this spring as PSV runs away with its third consecutive Eredivisie title. That’s a good place to be right when Poch is making his final picks.
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In the biggest Monday transfer involving an American, Vargas the 20-year Alaska-born Mexican national team midfielder, joined Atletico Madrid from the Seattle Sounders for an undisclosed fee. Vargas blossomed into a star as a teenager in Seattle; his deserved graduation to one of Europe’s leading clubs is a feather in the cap of both MLS and the Sounders, whose academy Vargas first joined as a 14-year-old. Vargas, an Atléti fan as a kid growing up in Anchorage, caught coach Diego Simeone’s eye when the teams met at last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup. A former U.S. youth international, Vargas made his senior debut for El Tri in a 2-0 win over the USA in October 2024.
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