It’s been another busy week in the USL Championship as clubs continue to build their rosters for the 2025 season, including some notable new contracts and options pick-ups that will keep familiar faces at their current clubs as well as notable free agency moves across conferences.

Here are eight that grabbed our attention over the past five days, and some things to consider as we approach the new year.

1. Loudoun United re-signs Florian Valot

Last offseason, Loudoun United’s signing of Florian Valot was a flag in the ground for the club as it built its identity as an independent club, getting an experienced midfielder who had made more than 150 appearances in Major League Soccer and the USL Championship to come aboard. Seeing the buy-in Valot has as he re-signs with United, then, is a validation of what Director of Soccer Olly Gage and Head Coach Ryan Martin are taking the club in as it looks for a first postseason berth in 2025.

On the field, Valot was excellent – and arguably a little bit unlucky in his first season for United. He logged four goals and five assists, but on Expected Goals marks of 4.66xG and 5.65xA. The latter number ranked him in the Top 15 in the USL Championship’s regular season for Expected Assists, and that contributed to a +6.54 Goals Added mark – the third-highest in a season in Loudoun’s history. If he keeps that standard, it should result in another step forward for United this season.

2. Eliot Goldthorp signs with Lexington SC

Lexington SC went on a free agent spree this week, bringing in some recognized USL Championship talent led by four-time title winner Speedy Williams for new Head Coach Terry Boss to work with. The most interesting of the five new faces, though, might be the one that’s coming from MLS NEXT Pro in English midfielder Eliot Goldthorp after he put up 10 goals and five assists across 23 appearances for Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 in the regular season and playoffs this past campaign.

Goldthorp figures to be one of the key pieces in midfield for Lexington next season, where he’ll get to learn from Williams and others as he steps up a level. His underlying numbers on American Soccer Analysis, though, give a good comparison with someone else who played for WFC2 in 2023 – 2024 Championship All-League selection J.C. Ngando, who starred in Las Vegas Lights FC’s turnaround before returning to Vancouver and signing a new contract. If Lexington gets anything close to Ngando’s level of quality from Goldthorp next season, it’ll be a big win.  

• For more, check out John Morrissey’s video breakdown of Goldthorp on Bluesky.

3. Antony Siaha signs with Indy Eleven

What would you say if I told you over the past two seasons, among goalkeepers with at least 40 appearances, Antony Siaha had the second-highest save percentage in the USL Championship at 74.1 percent, trailing only Sacramento Republic FC’s Danny Vitiello?

Given the struggles Monterey Bay has gone through in three consecutive seasons without reaching the playoffs, that might come as a surprise, but the Cameroonian has been one of the brightest lights in goal for a little while. Now he’s going to a much bigger spotlight at Indy Eleven.

Overall in his two-and-a-half seasons in Monterey Bay, Siaha has notched 207 saves, a save percentage of 73.8 percent and notched 19 shutouts in 58 appearances. He also posted a 6.5 Goals Prevented mark – compare that to the -5.84 mark of teammate Carlos Herrera, now headed to Detroit City, over the same span. Indy’s going to be relying on those numbers holding up, but if they do, the Boys in Blue have a strong starter for 2025.

4. El Paso Locomotive signs Kenneth Hoban

The first thing we should acknowledge is we may only see a very little bit of Kenneth Hoban in action in the 2025 season. That’s how it works with teenagers, especially 15-year-olds who are the youngest signings in club history, as Hoban is for Locomotive.

At the same time, this is a really big deal, and an exciting one given the hopes El Paso has put into its Academy system since it launched a few years ago. Hoban was this week selected to the USL Academy League Finals All-Tournament Team, alongside Locomotive Academy teammate Saul Perez. With Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera no stranger to bringing along young talent at previous stops, it might be that we get to see him in action at some point next year, but the long-term hope is Hoban can be a breakthrough star on the back line.

5. Damian Rivera signs with Phoenix Rising FC

If you go by the minutes-per-goal metric, pound-for-pound, Damian Rivera was right up there among the best finishers in the USL Championship in 2024 with a strike rate of a goal every 175.2 minutes. That ranked 15th-best in the league across the regular season and playoffs with at least five goals.

Of course, there was a key factor in that number: Rivera was primarily used as a super-sub by the Tampa Bay Rowdies. When you’re behind the likes of Cal Jennings, Manuel Arteaga and Leo Fernandes in the pecking order that’s understandable, but it means your top-line numbers saw you score six goals in 1,051 minutes of official action.

What Phoenix is banking on, though, is Rivera can at least somewhat maintain that productivity while keeping the other elements that made him valuable for the Rowdies. He also chipped in three assists on 26 chances created and an Expected Assists mark of 3.24xA while being an active part of the side’s press. If the 22-year-old can step into the starting lineup for Rising and succeed, he could be a big part of Pa-Modou Kah’s renovation of the squad.

6. Jansen Wilson re-signs with Louisville City FC

The great thing about the USL Championship is every year there are players who come out of nowhere to absolutely delight you. Jansen Wilson was one of those in 2024 as he went from summer trainee while he was in college to preseason trialist to starter at Louisville City FC, one of the harder lineups to crack in the league.

That earned Wilson a new multi-year contract extension, and we’re looking forward to seeing what’s next for the 23-year-old. His switch to the front line – playing on the right side of the front three with Wilson Harris and Ray Serrano – showed Wilson’s adaptability in real time and resulted in nine goals in the campaign. It’ll be intriguing to see if he can make another leap forward in his second campaign.

7. New Mexico exercises its contract option on Greg Hurst

There should be no surprise that New Mexico elected to keep its leading scorer in 2024 in Greg Hurst around for another season. It also brings us the question of how high Hurst might be able to rise among the USL Championship’s forwards.

What we know from Hurst’s underlying numbers is he’s effectively been as good as the chances he’s created for himself or that others have created for him. Hurst’s 22 goals in 99 appearances in the USL Championship across the regular season and playoffs have come off a 21.33xG mark during his stints with New Mexico and previously Phoenix Rising. This season, he doubled his six-goal campaign for Rising in 2022 while also setting career bests in shooting accuracy (69.4 percent) and shot conversion rate (24.5 percent) and hitting an 11.99xG mark.

If Hurst gets a better supply of opportunities – or simply has a season in which he overperforms his underlying numbers – we could be talking Golden Boot and All-League contention.

8. Phanuel Kavita re-signs with Birmingham Legion FC

It doesn’t come much more logical than extending one of the key pieces at your club for multiple seasons, which is what Legion did in extending Phanuel Kavita’s contract alongside the extensions it had previously handed Enzo Martinez and Tyler Pasher.

The 31-year-old has recorded more appearances (124) and minutes played (10,921) for Legion than any other player since he arrived prior to the 2021 season, and is already up to fourth all-time in club history in both categories. While there was some thought this past campaign was a down year for Kavita, the underlying numbers for the center back were more positive. His +4.87 Base Goals Added mark per American Soccer Analysis ranked second-best in his campaigns for the club, marking an improvement on his 2023 mark (+3.53). He’ll have a new partner to work with in defense with the departure of Alex Crognale but Kavita should be as reliable as ever in Black and Gold.