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A Brief History of Domestic Transfers from the USL Championship

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 01/26/25, 3:00PM EST

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The record-setting move by Louisville City’s Elijah Wynder adds to the rising tide of talent moving up via transfer over the past seven years

Since the start of the modern USL era in 2011, the number of players who’ve moved to Major League Soccer from the USL Championship and more recently League One is in the 100s.

There were early moves like that of Yordany Alvarez to Real Salt Lake after winning 2011 Player of the Year honors.

Others, like three-time Championship All-League selection Daniel Steres, proved their bona fides in the league at independent clubs and MLS reserve teams before going on to lengthy careers in the top flight.

Talent found in the current United States Men’s National Team pool – like 2016 title-winner Tyler Adams at the New York Red Bulls II or former Bethlehem Steel FC standout Brenden Aaronson – used their time in the league as the launchpad to bigger things, while goalkeeper Matt Turner’s time on loan at the Richmond Kickers was foundational to his ascent.

Over recent years, however, the transfer market for talent has grown with Championship clubs making longer-term commitments to talented players and building their business in the overseas and domestic markets.

This week’s move of 2024 Championship Young Player of the Year Elijah Wynder from Louisville City FC to the LA Galaxy stands as the new record domestic transfer fee paid to a Championship club, illustrating the evolution of the marketplace in recent years.

Here are some of the prior landmarks that brought us to this moment.

Mark-Anthony Kaye – Louisville City FC to Los Angeles FC
 

February 5, 2018

A native of Toronto, Mark-Anthony Kaye had been one of the top prospects in Toronto FC’s Academy as he came through the club, even resulting in a season-long loan to Wilmington Hammerheads FC in the 2014 USL Championship season that saw him notch two goals and two assists in eight appearances. After spending the next year with newly-formed Toronto FC II, however, he decided the forge his own path, to great success.

Landing with Louisville City FC shortly after his 21st birthday, Kaye became a key part of the club’s rise in the Championship. He recorded 49 appearances across the regular season and playoffs, establishing himself as a top box-to-box midfielder in the league. He also earned his first call-up to the Canada Men’s National Team before helping LouCity win its first title in 2017.

The following offseason, expansion Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC swooped in to secure his services, starting a career that has now seen Kaye make 174 appearances across the MLS regular season and playoffs while logging 15 goals and 26 assists.

Tah Brian Anunga – Charleston Battery to Nashville SC

January 15, 2020


Tah Brian Anunga shone in three seasons for the Charleston Battery before his transfer to Nashville SC as it joined Major League Soccer in 2020. He's since made 116 top-flight appearances. | Photo courtesy Chris Cowger / Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

A native of Cameroon, Tah Brian Anunga’s story is one of persistence. After landing in the USL Championship with Wilmington Hammerheads FC in 2016, he dropped into USL League Two for a season with the Carolina Dynamo before a move to the Charleston Battery that saw him take his game to the next level. The defensive midfielder made 85 appearances for the Battery over three seasons, winning 158 tackles at a 66.7 percent success rate, 460 duels at a 54.8 percent success rate while notching 153 interceptions and 783 recoveries. In 2018, his work was rewarded with USL Championship All-League First Team honors.

That level drew the attention of then USL Championship club Nashville SC, which acquired Anunga as it made the move to Major League Soccer ahead of the 2020 season. Since then, he’s recorded 116 appearances in the MLS regular season and playoffs across four seasons in the Music City. This offseason, Anunga made the move to FC Cincinnati as a free agent to continue his journey in the top flight.

Tyler Pasher – Indy Eleven to Houston Dynamo FC

January 14, 2021

After he arrived at Indy Eleven in 2018, Tyler Pasher gradually put it all together. The Canadian speedster was a force in the Championship across two seasons, leading the Boys in Blue to the Eastern Conference Final of the 2019 Playoffs while bagging 24 goals and seven assists in 30 appearances for the side – including 10 in the abbreviated 2020 season that accounted for almost half of Indy’s tallies that regular season.

Enter Houston Dynamo FC, which acquired Pasher ahead of the 2021 Major League Soccer season. Year 1 progressed well – Pasher four goals and three assists in 844 minutes while making only nine starts – before injuries hampered his second half of the season. Still, that didn’t stop him being tipped for success going into Year 2. Sadly, things didn’t go to plan, leaving Pasher to return to Birmingham Legion FC in 2023 where he’s continued to deliver bangers over the past two seasons.

Diego Luna – El Paso Locomotive FC to Real Salt Lake

June 2, 2022


Diego Luna was voted to the 2021 USL Championship All-League Team and a finalist for Young Player of the Year at El Paso Locomotive before his mid-season transfer in 2022 to Real Salt Lake. | Photo courtesy Ivan Pierre Aguirre / El Paso Locomotive FC

Signed by El Paso Locomotive FC to his first professional deal out of the Barca Residency Academy, Diego Luna rocketed into the USL Championship, using the league as a launchpad to his current position as one of the brightest young talents in the country. As a 17-year-old, he recorded his first goal in the league in his first start and went on to record nine goals and five assists in 32 appearances to earn USL Championship All-League Second Team honors and nomination for the Young Player of the Year award.

After another bright start to the 2022 season with four goals and two assists in 10 appearances, and shortly before he departed for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Real Salt Lake acquired Luna for a then-domestic record fee. Since then, Luna has recorded 13 goals and 15 assists in 67 appearances for RSL, earning Major League Soccer’s Young Player of the Year award last season. He’s also made his senior United States debut, logging his first assist for the side on Wednesday night in a 3-0 victory against Costa Rica in a game that saw his play widely lauded.

Fidel Barajas – Charleston Battery to Real Salt Lake

January 11, 2024

With the sales of players like Jonathan Gomez from Louisville City FC to Real Sociedad in 2021 and Diego Luna to Real Salt Lake in 2022, the avenue the USL Championship was offering young players was becoming evident. 17-year-old California native Fidel Barajas became the latest to make the jump late in 2022 when he signed with the Charleston Battery out of the San Jose Earthquakes Academy, setting up one of the great seasons by a teenager in the league’s history.

After notching two assists in three appearances late in the 2022 campaign, Barajas caught fire the following season. After leading Mexico to the Concacaf U-17 Championship in preseason, he recorded five goals and 11 assists across the regular season and playoffs for the Battery to earn the Championship’s Young Player of the Year award. Real Salt Lake again came calling, resulting in Barajas’ transfer in January last year, but things quickly accelerated from there as he was subsequently moved to Chivas de Guadalajara in the summer, netting the Battery a tidy windfall.  

Carlos Harvey – Phoenix Rising FC to Minnesota United FC

January 24, 2024


Panamanian international Carlos Harvey played a key role in Phoenix Rising FC's run to the 2023 USL Championship title before his offseason transfer to Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer. | Photo courtesy Michael Wiser / Charleston Battery

Carlos Harvey had always seemed like a player on the verge of a breakthrough. With Phoenix Rising FC during the 2023 season, the versatile Panamanian delivered. Acquired from the LA Galaxy that offseason after previously making a positive impression for Los Dos in the Championship, Harvey made a career-high 34 appearances for Phoenix while logging five goals and six assists to prove a catalyst in the club’s remarkable postseason run to its first USL Championship title.

Minnesota United FC came in for the Panamanian international the following offseason, securing his signing from Rising, and in the past campaign the 24-year-old moved into a regular starting role toward the conclusion of the season, making 18 appearances overall. As he enters his second year with the Loons, Harvey should be a player to watch as Panama pursues its berth in the 2026 FIFA World Cup over the next 18 months.

Elijah Wynder – Louisville City FC to LA Galaxy

January 26, 2025

It’s a testament to Elijah Wynder’s path that by the age of 21 he’s already won the USL Championship’s Comeback Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards in different campaigns, but the LouCity Academy product’s ascent and move to the LA Galaxy this preseason for a domestic USL Championship record transfer fee speaks to what he’s shown over the past two seasons for the reigning Players’ Shield holder.

Wynder’s comeback from an early-season injury in 2021 to contribute down the stretch in 2022 for an injury-hit LouCity roster before scoring the game-winner in extra time against the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the Eastern Conference Final of the 2022 USL Championship Playoffs laid the groundwork for what was to come. Over the past two seasons, Wynder’s 65 appearances rank tied for second on the team to only veteran defender Sean Totsch. He’s contributed nine goals and two assists while serving as an industrious box-to-box midfielder.

Earning the 2024 USL Championship Young Player of the Year award made him the first player to do so out of a USL Academy program and placed him in some illustrious company. As he heads to Los Angeles for the next step in his career at MLS’s most historic club, there will be a learning curve, but one Wynder feels prepared to navigate as he has his path to this point.

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