Why USMNT Players Are Dominating Their New Ventures in Europe

Take a scroll through the names in the EFL Championship Golden Boot standings over the last two seasons, and you’ll find a common occurrence: North Americans right near the top of the list.

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Last season, USMNT World Cup striker Haji Wright scored 17 goals for Championship side Coventry City, finishing second in the Golden Boot race. In the early stages of the new 2026–27 season, Canada’s Cyle Larin sits atop the goalscoring charts with seven goals in seven games.

While goalscoring may be the most flashy aspect of North Americans competing in the English second tier, it serves to highlight a major trend of USMNT and Canadian players dominating the level overseas.

In addition to Larin’s hot start with Southampton, some of the USMNT newcomers, joining the Championship from MLS this summer, have hit high-flying form in the opening weeks. This weekend, former Vancouver Whitecap Sebastian Berhalter scored a brace in Middlesbrough’s 4–3 win over Norwich City, and former Houston Dynamo star Jack McGlynn scored his first European goal for Stoke City in a 2–1 victory over Watford.

First Boro goal

Second Boro goal

A fine afternoon’s work for Seb Berhalter pic.twitter.com/8zXYyIj6bP

– Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) September 13, 2026

“It’s an intense league,” Berhalter said after the recent performance. “The referee lets a lot of things play, and I love that. It’s fun that the games are end-to-end, and the fans are right there helping you and giving you that support.”

The instant impact of Berhalter, McGlynn, Max Arfsten, Aidan Morris etc.-all of whom hailed from the U.S.’s top flight-raises the question, though: Is the Championship really a step up in soccer level? MLS, despite being non-European, may be equal to, or actually better than, the Championship.

If so, then what exactly makes the Championship such an attractive league for MLS players and North Americans, in general? Here, Sports Illustrated looks at a few key factors.

MLS Has Higher Talent Ceiling Than the Championship

For what MLS lacks in promotion and relegation, it makes up for with immense talent from around the world, headlined by global superstars still playing at an elite level, such as Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Thomas Müller.

The level of the league’s best players is far beyond that of the Championship and helps demand more out of the younger domestic talents. At the same time, MLS’s restrictive roster rules force domestic talent into lineups unlike those in other leagues, giving North Americans more opportunities to adapt to the league’s rising international pedigree.

By being the world’s most diverse league, with players from 79 countries, MLS also offers different challenges than a typical EFL Championship team. Some weeks, players face aging global stars; others, young South American talents brought in on high-paying U22 Initiative contracts and fighting to use the league as a stepping stone, like former Inter Miami forward Diego Gómez, now of Brighton and Hove Albion.

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Those diverse challenges-backdropped by the league’s unique physicality and long travel stints-force MLS talents to adapt, giving them an edge that can translate into a higher overall average talent level. That level can then be put on display in the Championship, where rosters can be more balanced from top to bottom, but less star-studded than what MLS players experienced at the upper echelon.

EFL Championship Money, Premier League Opportunity

Beyond the Championship’s reduced travel compared to MLS, the wage disparity also makes the English second tier more attractive, as does the opportunity to battle for a spot in the Premier League.

While salaries aren’t public in the same way as they are in MLS, the lofty transfer fees, such as the $11 million Stoke paid for McGlynn and Luca Bombino, the $7 million Derby County paid for Patrick Agyemang and the combined $10 million Middlesbrough paid for Max Arfsten and Berhalter, indicate that the players would likely reach a new salary tier.

In MLS, for context, Agyemang earned $105,000 in 2025, while Berhalter made $305,000, far below the 2025–26 average for a player in the Championship, who earned $1.08 million per season. The MLS average, meanwhile, sat at approximately $354,390 in 2025.

At the same time, earning a spot in the EFL Championship and helping push a team toward the top of the table can serve as an easier road into the highly attractive Premier League than a straight move, such as the one Zavier Gozo made this summer. Gozo has since struggled to adapt to the immediate step up, despite Crystal Palace sending a $15 million transfer fee to Real Salt Lake.

Go make us proud, Gozo. @realsaltlake transfers Zavier Gozo to Crystal Palace in the Premier League. pic.twitter.com/b0gSVaumPe

– Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 18, 2026

The Championship is an attractive option for MLS talents as a lateral move into a more lucrative and potential-laden league.

Given the enormous stakes the Premier League and European soccer can present, the Championship has quickly become the perfect stepping-stone league for MLS and North American talent looking to establish themselves across the pond.

Yet, it’s no longer a leap in talent level, but rather a leap toward boundless opportunity.

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This story was originally published September 13, 2026 at 3:00 PM.