5 MLS wonderkids to watch in the 2026 season

The upcoming 2026 Major League Soccer season is a crucial one for many up-and-coming players, as there is a World Cup on home soil this summer and a handful of former MLS wonderkids earned moves abroad in the winter.

The biggest deals were former Orlando City right-back Alex Freeman joining Spain’s Villarreal and former Seattle Sounders midfielder Obed Vargas signing for Atletico Madrid.

While MLS still sees more than its fair share of players past their prime join its clubs, sporting directors are more focused than ever on acquiring and developing young talent.

Here, FootballTransfers lists its five MLS wonderkids to watch in the 2026 season.

Cavan Sullivan – Philadelphia Union winger/attacking midfielder

Since he signed his first professional contract — which contains a clause allowing him to join Man City when he turns 18 — fans in the US and abroad have been waiting to see how good Philadelphia Union attacker Cavan Sullivan really is.

Sullivan was a standout player in MLS Next Pro, the feeder league for MLS, where he scored six goals with six assists in 14 matches for Philadelphia Union II.

For the senior side, he only played 229 minutes across 13 matches, just one of which he started. He failed to make a goal contribution, but it was his age-15 season.

In 2026, Sullivan will look to gain the trust of Union head coach Bradley Carnell. He has a chance to do so as his teammate and brother, winger Quinn Sullivan, is likely to miss at least the first half of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL.

Darren Yapi – Colorado Rapids striker

A strong and efficient striker, 21-year-old Darren Yapi will look to build on a promising individual 2025 campaign for a Colorado Rapids team that missed the playoffs with an 11th-placed finish in the Western Conference regular-season standings.

Yapi scored eight goals on 5.09 expected goals (xG) with two assists in 29 appearances. That was a big improvement on his two goals and one assist in 33 games in 2024.

The Rapids hired a new head coach, Matt Wells, who replaced Chris Armas after the 2025 season. Wells was a longtime assistant coach under Scott Parker, dating back to their days coaching Tottenham Hotspur’s under-18s. He also served as a first-team coach for Spurs under Ange Postecoglu.

If the styles of play used by Wells’ mentors provide any indication, Yapi should benefit. Both Parker and Postecoglu employ progressive, attack-minded tactics, which should see Yapi increase the 29 shots he fired in his 29 MLS appearances last season.

Mateo Silvetti – Inter Miami winger

Mateo Silvetti joined Inter Miami from Newell’s Old Boys midway through the 2025 MLS season, and he contributed an impressive two goals and two assists in 462 minutes across nine appearances, five of which were starts.

As an Argentina youth international who came up at Newell’s, some fans might jump to compare him to Lionel Messi, which is the ultimate burden to put on any young player.

Silvetti is a right-footed winger, and he flashed his potential in the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the MLS Cup Playoffs, when he hit a pass from Messi first-time and curled it past the FC Cincinnati goalkeeper to push the score to 2-0. He also scored the third goal in Miami’s 5-1 Conference Finals demolition of New York City FC.

The 20-year-old could receive a similar benefit to teammate Tadeo Allende due to playing with the greatest footballer of all time. Allende scored 20 goals in 37 MLS matches last season, including eight goals in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Zavier Gozo – Real Salt Lake winger/attacking midfielder

The club that developed Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman, Andres Gomez, Fidel Barajas, Emeka Eneli, and Diego Luna appears to have another wonderkid in its ranks.

Zavier Gozo, who will turn 19 about one month into the 2026 MLS season, made a name for himself in 2025 with four goals and three assists in 1,881 minutes played across 26 appearances. The United States youth international scored a goal and provided two assists in last year’s under-20 World Cup, which included a one-goal, one-assist game in his team’s 3-0 win over France.

Gozo made one of the most impressive plays of the 2025 season, when he scissor-kicked the ball over his defender’s shoulder and past the ‘keeper to score against Los Angeles FC in September.

Real Salt Lake will be hungry to prove itself after barely making it into the playoffs and getting eliminated in the first round, and further improvement from Gozo would help the club do just that.

Reed Baker-Whiting – Seattle Sounders fullback/winger

Reed Baker-Whiting is reported to be on the verge of transferring to Nashville SC, but officially, he is on the Seattle Sounders’ books for now.

So far in his career, Baker-Whiting is something of a one-game wonder, but that excellent performance came in the biggest game of his career.

In the 2025 Leagues Cup Final, Baker-Whiting lined up across from Messi and played a pivotal role in holding Inter Miami scoreless en route to a Seattle Sounders 3-0 victory.

With left-back Nouhou Tolo entering his 10th season as Seattle’s first-choice left back at 28 years old while 29-year-old Alex Roldan enters his ninth season at right-back, it makes sense for 20-year-old Baker-Whiting to seek a move.

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