Stephen Turnbull (Birmingham Legion FC), Lyam MacKinnon (Orange County SC) and Conor Donovan (North Carolina FC) will all have new clubs going into 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 seven saw big attacking moves by Orange County SC and Birmingham Legion, a notable homecoming for one of the league’s top center backs, and two sterling defensive midfielders get new homes for a pair of title contenders.
Here are 10 transactions that caught our eye.
For a second consecutive offseason, the reigning USL League One Player of the Year and Golden Boot winner is headed to the USL Championship. Lyam MacKinnon’s signing with Orange County SC on Thursday came after a campaign in which he bagged 21 goals across the League One regular season and playoffs and the inaugural USL Jägermeister Cup for Greenville Triumph SC, a breakout campaign in his second professional season.
MacKinnon is the sort of player OCSC needs to become a contender this year. His speed and ability to facilitate gives the side the sort of threat Milan Iloski provided over his two seasons at the club. He should be a consistent threat inside the penalty area, where he bagged 21 of his 24 goals in League One for Greenville. Over his two seasons with Triumph, he also showed year-on-year improvement in other metrics, too, raising his shooting accuracy 11.5 points to 54.4 percent last season, which resulted in a similar rise in conversion rate to 17.5 percent and lowering of his strike rate to a goal every 116.2 minutes across the regular season and playoffs.
The concern, though, could be two-fold. In each of his seasons in League One, MacKinnon outpaced his Expected Goals mark handsomely, which could suggest a regression as he arrives at a higher level of competition. There’s also the example of his predecessor in making the jump, Trevor Amann, who started brightly but ended up with only nine goals in his first year with Sacramento Republic FC.
MacKinnon brings talent, but it’s not a sure thing he’ll catch fire immediately.
Danny Trejo will return to the USL Championship with Birmingham Legion FC having previously earned All-League First Team honors in Phoenix Rising's 2023 title-winning campaign. | Photo courtesy Arianna Grainey / Phoenix Rising FC
If bringing aboard Ronaldo Damus on loan earlier this offseason wasn’t enough, Birmingham Legion announced on Thursday it had added his potential front-running mate with the signing of Danny Trejo. Returning from a 12-month stint in Poland’s top flight, the 26-year-old brings the sort of resume that shows the sort of business Legion is looking to run after missing the postseason for the first time in its history last fall.
Trejo’s two-year stint in the Championship between Las Vegas Lights FC in 2022 while on loan from Los Angeles FC and Phoenix Rising FC in 2023, where he led the side to its first title, was nothing short of electric. Over those two seasons, he recorded 33 goals and 12 assists in only 65 appearances, an average of a goal contribution every 120.3 minutes. Only one other player recorded both 30 goals and 10 assists over those two seasons in current Sacramento Republic FC star Russell Cicerone.
Trejo’s quality of finishing – his shooting accuracy rate sat at 63.7 percent in two years – and ability to create should form a strong tandem playing as a second striker behind Damus, allowing Enzo Martinez to take on a deeper-lying playmaker role. If it all comes together as planned, Legion is going to be a lot of fun to watch.
On one hand, Conor Donovan signing with North Carolina FC is a homecoming for the local product. Much more importantly, though, it adds another top-level piece to NCFC’s back line as it goes into the new season that could help the side build on its postseason berth a season ago.
Over the past three seasons, Donovan was a key player for Sacramento Republic FC as the side reached the postseason in each campaign. Among center backs, he graded 11th in Goals Added cumulatively at a +14.98 mark per American Soccer Analysis with his ability in the air and to clean up in the middle of the three-man back line and then distribute out of the back central to that. Coming in alongside returning center backs Paco Craig – who, incidentally, grades highest at +18.75 G+ in the same span – and Bryce Washington and North Carolina has the potential to be one of the best defensive units in the league this year.
If there’s anything we’ve learned about Louisville City – especially in recent offseasons – it’s that the perennial contender rarely stays still when it comes to adding new talent. That makes Kevon Lambert’s arrival as one of the most proven No. 6s in the USL Championship’s history another big addition to the squad, even if it’s only for this season on loan from Real Salt Lake.
The remarkable thing about Lambert’s play is his consistency year-in and year-out. Even last year as he competed for a San Antonio FC side that slipped out of the playoff picture, Lambert’s level remained consistent from past campaigns. His +4.26 Goals Added mark was the second-highest of his career per American Soccer Analysis – trailing only a stellar 2022 campaign with Phoenix Rising FC – but it also marked his fifth season notching at least a +4.00 rating. Put him at the base of Louisville’s midfield and it will allow the likes of Taylor Davila even more freedom to do what they do best.
Houssou Landry lands at the Charleston Battery this offseason having led New Mexico United in multiple defensive categories during the 2024 campaign. | Photo courtesy Eric Lovato / New Mexico United
The big question coming out of the Charleston Battery’s signing of Houssou Landry after two consecutive seasons in which he’s been an above average central midfielder in the Championship is where he fits in when the Battery already have arguably the best player in that role in the league in Aaron Molloy.
What we know, however, is when you have the chance to stockpile talent – and are aiming to be battling the likes of Louisville City for silverware year-in and year-out – then you need to take advantage of the opportunity. The 24-year-old Ivorian has been a solid No. 6 since he arrived at Loudoun United four years ago and was a key cog for New Mexico United last season, recording a team-high 42 tackles, 47 interceptions and 146 duels won.
Getting Landry into a double-pivot with Molloy in the Battery’s conventional 4-2-3-1 system should take some of the pressure off the Irish standout in terms of ball-winning. It could also open more tactical flexibility for Head Coach Ben Pirmann to put Molloy into more attacking situations this season, which would be a big threat for opposing defenses.
If I’m going to be honest, this was the sort of move Noble Okello should have considered last offseason. The 24-year-old had a solid if unspectacular past year with Atlanta United 2 in MLS NEXT Pro, but it also continued the drift the Toronto native has experienced since he first burst onto the scene six years ago.
Let’s not forget, Okello was called into the Canada Men’s National Team for the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup while he was competing in USL League One for Toronto FC II back then, and while it took until the following January for him to make his senior international debut, that was the profile of talent that we were dealing with at that point. Since then, he’s not quite lived up to that promise. The hope here is the change of scenery and chance to compete in Phoenix with new Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah could see a revival of the player a lot of us really enjoyed watching a few years ago.
Prior to the announcement later in the week of Danny Trejo’s arrival, Birmingham Legion made another major move in acquiring Stephen Turnbull via transfer from fellow Eastern Conference side Rhode Island FC. It’s a move that should fill one of the gaps that Legion’s roster appeared to have with the end of Derek Dodson’s loan last season.
While Dodson was solid at right back for Legion, the reality is the side hasn’t had the consistency it has needed in that position since the departure of Jonny Dean to the Chicago Fire two offseasons ago. Turnbull can be the solution, having shown similar attacking attributes in his three goals and three assists last season for Rhode Island while also completing more dribbles (37) at a higher success rate (55.2%) than Dean totaled in any of his three seasons in Birmingham. With the attacking players Legion has in its squad, adding Turnbull should help line up chances for them to put away.
New Miami FC signing Jonathan Ricketts has been a consistent performer over his three seasons in the USL Championship and will look to bring that to a side in need of a bounce-back year in 2025. | Photo courtesy Irina Filenko / Sacramento Republic FC
The past season was a down one for Jonathan Ricketts at Sacramento Republic FC, but when you’re the understudy to the best wingback in the league in Jack Gurr, that was pretty much always going to be the case. With that in mind, Ricketts heading to be part of Miami FC’s rebuild alongside Bolu Akinyode – the latter for his second stint with the club – should be a good move for both the club and the player, whose shown in the past a high level of quality out wide.
Don’t forget, two seasons ago Ricketts was starring for Rio Grande Valley FC and was among the highest-rated full backs in the league. His +5.55 Goals Added mark was his best since arriving in the Championship, and his overall durability and solidity at both ends of the field – bringing a 68.3 percent tackle success rate and 57.5 percent duel success rate for his three seasons in the league – should make him a consistent presence this year. For a team looking for consistency, that’s a good place to start.
Las Vegas Lights did well with its loan acquisitions a season ago – hitting the jackpot with the addition of midfielder J.C. Ngando, who turned in an All-League season before signing a new contract with Vancouver Whitecaps FC this offseason – and it’s going to hope for more of the same this year as center back Nate Jones comes aboard from the Colorado Rapids.
A top five pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft, Jones had a solid campaign for Rapids 2 last year in MLS NEXT Pro, grading out at a +3.91 Goals Added mark and in the Top 25 center backs in the reserve league. With Joe Hafferty having been moved to Lexington SC this offseason, the former Vermont Green FC standout in USL League Two could slot into the back four alongside Maliek Howell and get starting minutes this season.
If there’s one thing Monterey Bay FC has lacked over its first three seasons, it’s been the presence of a consistent goalscorer. Only Alex Dixon has ever broken double-digits in a season for the club, scoring 12 goals in the 2023 campaign, with the now-departed Tristan Trager leading the side with eight goals a season ago – twice as many as his closest teammate.
For all intents and purposes, Adam Larsson seems to be a player MBFC thinks can change that. The Swedish forward at least has a solid resume of finding the net in Scandinavia, and most recently put in 14 goals in 30 appearances across all competitions for IFK Mariehamn last year in Finland's top flight. How that translates to the United States, we’ll have to see, but Larsson at least has a track record with more than 50 goals in his professional career so far. With Dixon back and Luther Archimede hoping for better injury luck this season, Larsson’s arrival has some intrigue.