Panos Armenakas (Oakland Roots SC), Joe Hafferty (Lexington SC) and Laurence Wyke (Tampa Bay Rowdies) will all have new homes in the 2025 USL Championship season.
Welcome back to our weekly look at some of the key signings and moves from the past week in the build-up to the 2025 USL Championship season. The past five days saw one of the league’s top teenage talents find a new home, a former title-winner land in what could be an ideal spot to allow him to flourish, and the arrival in the pro ranks of two of last fall’s stars in college soccer.
Here are 10 transactions that caught our eye.
Since he arrived in the USL Championship and marked his debut for Memphis 901 FC with a bicycle kick finish, there have been sky-high hopes for Nighte Pickering. Following a 2023 campaign in which he bagged four goals and four assists in just over 1,000 minutes of play, the expectation was for a full-blown breakout season last year.
That didn’t arrive in terms of the 19-year-old’s main numbers. He logged only 111 more minutes of action and recorded three goals while drifting in and out of the lineup. On the positive side, Pickering did log career bests in Shooting Accuracy (50%), Expected Goals (3.69xG) and Goals Added (+3.09) but it was undermined by an 11.5 percent shot conversion rate.
As Pickering signs with Las Vegas, he’ll certainly get the chance to become the side’s starting No. 9 after the departure of Khori Bennett to Kuwaiti Premier League side Al-Nasr SC. For a player currently on the fringes of the United States U-20 National Team, however, this is shaping up to be a very important season for one of the Championship’s top young prospects.
Oakland Roots has added some solid pieces this offseason, but the addition of Panos Armenakas is a big swing that could pay off handsomely if everything else falls into place around him. Because make no mistake, the 26-year-old is the sort of player you can build an attack around with his creativity and could be the catalyst for Roots to improve an attack that scored only 37 goals in 34 regular season goals a season ago.
Armenakas’ best stint so far in the Championship was at Phoenix Rising, where he was key to the club’s 2023 title victory and notched 2.35 chances created per 90 minutes while also notching six goals and seven assists. Last season proved less impressive, including a midseason switch to Memphis 901 FC that didn’t quite see him catch fire in only 12 appearances. With players like Johnny Rodriguez and Dom Dwyer set to return, though, Armenakas can pull the strings to give Roots more attacking bite in open play and from set pieces to push the club forward.
This is very much a “come back to what you know” situation with Laurence Wyke having previously made 66 appearances in the Championship for the Rowdies during his first stint at the club and a short loan spell from Nashville SC. The 28-year-old brings versatility to the side – his six-assist campaign in 2021 for Tampa Bay saw him play predominantly in the center of midfield – but at this point it feels like he’s going to be part of the center back rotation.
Wyke’s familiarity with many of the returning pieces the Rowdies have should ensure a smooth return, but it’s also worth noting that while Phoenix Rising FC had its ups and downs a season ago, his underlying numbers were among the best individually in the Championship. Wyke’s +6.99 Goals Added mark was the best among outfield players for Rising in 2024 and first among Full Backs in the league as a whole, an indicator of the quality he can bring to Al Lang Stadium.
New Charleston Battery center back Joey Akpunonu was a First Round selection by FC Cincinnati in the 2023 Major League Soccer SuperDraft.
In a similar vein to the Battery’s signing last week of attacking midfielder Johnny Klein, bringing aboard center back Joey Akpunonu has good potential for the side, maybe even more given the Akpunonu enters the season two years younger than Klein. A former First Round selection in the MLS SuperDraft by FC Cincinnati, Akpunonu spent time on loan at Hartford Athletic last season and put up serviceable numbers, winning 52 duels at a 65 percent success rate, 13 tackles at a 76.5 percent success rate and notching 32 clearances and 42 recoveries in 925 minutes of play.
Akpunonu’s underlying numbers were reasonable enough too, earning a +2.76 Goals Added mark in Hartford and then putting up a +2.31 Goals Added mark in slightly fewer minutes on loan to Huntsville City FC in MLS NEXT Pro. The good news for him is he’s going to get a chance to build into his new club with Leland Archer and Graham Smith the first choices should the Battery remain in a four-man back line. That should allow Akpunonu to develop and grow into a starting role further down the line.
Add another starting point in Louisville City’s succession planning. As a standout at the University of Louisville, Josh Jones will have been well known to the club’s staff ahead of signing his first professional contract and the pedigree Jones brings gives him the look of a player that could be a fixture at Lynn Family Stadium for a while if his talents don’t take him to higher levels.
In addition to starring for the Cardinals, the Pennsylvania native also brings a strong resume from his time at Ocean City Nor’easters in USL League Two, earning the Defender of the Year award last summer as the side won a typically competitive Mid Atlantic Division. While Sean Totsch, Kyle Adams and Arturo Ordóñez will be at the top of the center back depth chart to start the season, Jones looks like a high-level addition that can challenge for minutes while learning from some of the best in the league.
Lexington SC’s roster build ahead of its arrival in the Championship continued this week with the acquisition via transfer of Joe Hafferty, who was a key part of the turnaround for the Lights a season ago and graded among the better center backs in the league as a result. Hafferty ranked 16th in American Soccer Analysis’ Goals Added metric among CBs with a +5.24 rating, while he also put up strong primary numbers while logging more than 2,500 minutes of action.
The most eye-catching of those was Hafferty’s decisiveness in ball-winning situations. He won 31 tackles, but at an 81.6 percent success rate. Among players who won at least 30 tackles across the regular season and playoffs, only Detroit City FC’s Ryan Williams graded higher at an 82.5 percent success mark. While there are plenty of new pieces for Head Coach Terry Boss to work with, it’s not hard to envision Hafferty and Kendall Burks being the main central defensive duo when the season begins.
There’s a very good argument to be made that if not for his international status, Taimu Okiyoshi would have been a First Round selection in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft after another stellar season at Marshall University. The Kobe, Japan native was rated in the Top 20 in TopDrawerSoccer.com’s player rankings for upperclassmen throughout the season, topping out at No. 6 in the final ranking, and was a Semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy as he helped lead the Thundering Herd to the College Cup Final.
Because of his non-domestic position, however, he’s landed at Rhode Island FC, where he could quickly become a contributor in central midfield. Similar to fellow offseason arrival Hugo Bacharach – who boasts a similarly impressive college resume but was released by Minnesota United FC after one season – this looks like a very shrewd addition indeed.
Look at Stefan Lukic’s numbers over the past three seasons in USL League One and they’re not necessarily the brightest you’ve seen for a player who’s fulfilled multiple attacking roles at both Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC and Chattanooga Red Wolves SC. Three goals and seven assists in 3,982 minutes across the regular season and playoffs isn’t a massive return.
Then you look at Lukic’s underlying numbers and wonder whether the Partizan Belgrade product isn’t due a bit of a turnaround in his fortunes, in particularly in his shooting. It’s kind of unfathomable that someone would have a cumulative 5.56 percent shot conversion rate over three seasons, but this is where if Lukic improves the quality of his finishing, FC Tulsa could have something useful. His 7.97 Expected Goals mark and 9.05 Expected Assists mark are those of someone who’s either underperformed or been unlucky. New Tulsa Head Coach Luke Spencer will have the task of trying to pull him out of that rut.
Miami FC's Daltyn Knutson was ranked in the Top 10 among center backs in Goals Added by American Soccer Analysis during the 2024 USL Championship season. | Photo courtesy Merisa Boyd / Rhode Island FC
If there was any silver lining to be taken from Miami’s 2024 season, it showed that Daltyn Knutson is a player the club should be able to build around defensively in the new campaign. The 27-year-old put up solid numbers with 120 clearances and 82 recoveries while winning 55.4 percent of duels during the past campaign.
Where Knutson’s potential was illustrated, though, was his underlying numbers. The former League One title winner with Union Omaha ranked ninth among center backs with a +6.33 Goals Added mark as his ability to disrupt opposing attackers measured strongly in American Soccer Analysis’ metrics. With a new regime coming to South Florida this season, Knutson should have more support around him to allow his ability to come to the fore more prominently.
When he landed in Sacramento Republic FC’s lineup in 2022, the potential Tiago Suarez possessed was evidenced by his call-up to the United States U-19 Men’s National Team as a 17-year-old. A couple of years later, it’s still a work in progress for the 6-foot-5 center back as he heads to Birmingham Legion after a middling season for the New England Revolution II a season ago.
Suarez had some positive defensive numbers, winning 22 tackles at a 73.3 percent success rate as well as winning 34 aerial duels at a 59.6 percent success rate, but his league-leading three red cards were a blot on the copybook and led to a +2.55 Goals Added mark over the season. Legion has a need at center back that Suarez could help address, especially if the side elects to play with a five-player back line again, but it’s going to be an important campaign for Suarez individually to live up to the expectations that were previously present.