Grading the summer transfer window: How did TFC do?
TFC Republic does a deep dive evaluation of the job that club GM Jason Hernandez did during the MLS secondary transfer window.
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Jason Hernandez was very busy over the last two months, pulling off several deals during the MLS secondary transfer window as he began the process of overhauling Toronto FC's roster.
What exactly did the club's GM accomplish during the summer? What is there left for him to do? And has he set up the Reds for success in the future?
TFC Republic does a deep dive evaluation of Toronto FC's transfer window.
Roster moves made by TFC during summer window
- Former No. 1 draft pick Tyrese Spicer traded to Orlando City
- New DP Djordje Mihailovic acquired in cash trade with Colorado Rapids
- TFC 2’s Malik Henry graduates to senior team
- Matty Longstaff traded to Montreal; Jules-Anthony Vilsaint comes to TFC
- Deybi Flores sold to Saudi club Al-Najma SC
- Rangers midfielder José Cifuentes joins TFC on year-long loan
Analysis: In trading away Tyrese Spicer for up to $550,000 US in general allocation money (GAM), TFC cashed in on a player who wasn't keen on staying unless he received an improved deal. Spicer, 24, was under contract until the end of the season with club options for 2026 and 2027. Because he was on Toronto's supplemental roster, his modest wages ($83,122 US) didn't count against the team's salary cap.
“As our MLS SuperDraft pick, our intention was to continue working and growing with Tyrese. However, it was communicated that the player only wanted to continue with the club if certain contractual commitments and conditions were secured this summer. Unfortunately, the terms proposed were not acceptable to the club at this time," Jason Hernandez said.
TFC acquired Djordje Mihailovic in a cash trade from the Colorado Rapids for $8 million and up to $1 million in conditional cash if certain performance-based metrics are met. It was a bit of a steep price for the U.S. international, but one that the Reds were willing to play for one of the best playmaking midfielders in MLS.
TFC haven’t had a difference maker in midfield like Mihailovic since former league MVP Alejandro Pozuelo left the club in 2022. Mihailovic is only 26, which means his best years are ahead of him and he has the potential to become a foundational piece for Toronto, much in the same way that former captain Michael Bradley was for many years.
Malik Henry, 23, is a promising prospect who can play in a number of attacking positions after cutting his teeth in MLS NEXT Pro this season. There’s still some development that he’ll have to undergo, but in the meantime the youngster looks to be a solid depth piece for the Reds.
The trade with CF Montreal saw Toronto shed an underwhelming performer in Matty Longstaff from its crowded midfield corps, while also receiving a promising forward in Jules-Anthony Vilsaint and $275,000 in GAM. It also opened up some valuable salary cap room.
Two days after announcing the transfer of Deybi Flores, TFC brought in José Cifuentes as its new central midfielder. It’s a move that allows the team to move forward with a new central midfielder who offers more of an attacking upside than Flores – Cifuentes had 15 goals and 20 assists in 121 appearances for LAFC from 2020 to 2023, helping the club win an MLS Cup and a Supporters’ Shield. Cifuentes also has a U.S. Green Card, so he'll count as a domestic player and won't take up a valuable international roster slot.
"He's a bit different [than Flores]. He has more attacking in his DNA, but he's capable of defending and playing deep. Probably prefers to play a little bit higher, because he can get more opportunities on goal. But he's very competent in any part of the midfield, and certainly the experience he's gained, the experience that he's had, we would think is going to translate into really helping us," coach Robin Fraser said.
John Molinaro
Reds stockpile GAM ahead of 2026 season
Toronto FC acquired up to $1,775,000 million US in general allocation money via several different trades.
Analysis: Clubs can use GAM in several different ways, but its most important application is buying down a player’s salary cap hit. So, essentially, you can think of GAM as salary cap space as it allows teams to reduce their cap hit and sign more players even if they’ve hit the salary cap limit (which for 2025 is $5,950,000 US).
Jason Hernandez was able to acquire $1,775,000 million in GAM by trading away international slots that were going to be unused for the rest of this year, as well as the MLS "discovery priority" for Ryan Porteous, a player TFC didn’t have any intention of signing. Considering the assets given up, that’s a great piece of business by Hernandez.
The amount of GAM acquired this summer could also increase. Per MLS rules, teams receive 95 per cent of the transfer fee (the rest goes to the league) and can convert up to $3 million of the transfer revenue into general allocation money. So, the Reds could convert the proceeds of the transfer sale of Deybi Flores into GAM.
“[That’s] undecided yet. That's a conversation internally with ownership, whether we'll take partial in GAM or keep all in cash and keep all in GAM. We have some time … [before] we have to decide what we're going to do with the cash," Hernandez said.
If Toronto decides to keep the 2 DPs/4 U22s roster construction model it would receive an additional $2 million in GAM at the start of next season, which would potentially bring their GAM total to over $4 million.
Either way, Hernandez is in a position to strengthen his squad with new additions in the off-season in a major way due to this influx of GAM. It should be noted that TFC doesn't have to use all of this GAM this year; MLS clubs are allowed to carry over unused GAM into next season.
"We're very fortunate to put the building blocks in place that we have this summer, and we feel very strongly and confidently that going into the off-season, between the cap space that will be afforded to us and the assets that we've been able to generate, that will have what we need to address all of the team needs in all the ways that we've been looking forward to doing for quite some," Hernandez stated.
John Molinaro
Italian DPs bought out of their contracts
Italian designated players Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi had their contracts bought out by the club.
Analysis: Toronto dropped a Canada Day bombshell when it announced it parted company with Italian DPs Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi after they agreed to contract buyouts.
That double whammy not only freed the club from a pair of contacts that were like anchors around its neck, but it also set the stage for what turned out to be a very busy summer, highlighted by the ultra-important move of bringing in Djordje Mihailovic as the new DP.
The double buyout of two under-performing and overpaid stars meant two DP slots suddenly became open and valuable salary cap space was freed up, thus giving the club greater flexibility going forward to retool the roster.
“What is the most important part for us … is we have flexibility, and we have options, for the first time in a long time, to talk about what we were going to do in the way we invest. We just haven't had that conversation in quite some time because we were locked into a certain path, and now we no longer are. So, it is a very different landscape today,” Jason Hernandez said at the time.
Insigne’s $15.4 million pay packet for this season was more than the total roster payroll of nine MLS teams. Combined, the Italians’ salaries were greater than 23 clubs across the league.
Going forward, efficiency will be the new guiding principle behind Toronto’s DP strategy.
“It's reasonable to say that, certainly from a salary perspective, we should not expect ownership to be these unique outliers in the league space of having these really, really robust salaries specifically dedicated to two guys. So, certainly, the way we invest, I would imagine, is going to change,” Hernandez offered.
John Molinaro
Charlie Sharp, Hugo Mbongue sent out on loans
TFC recalled forward Hugo Mbongue from his loan at Lexington SC of the United Soccer League Championship. TFC then loaned him to the CPL's Vancouver FC for the remainder of the 2025 season. The Reds also loaned forward Charlie Sharp to the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the USL for the rest of the season.
Analysis: Mbongue, 21, wasn't getting any playing time in Lexington – he's already logged more minutes (387), goals (two) and assists (one) in five games with Vancouver. In three appearances for Tampa Bay, Sharp 24, has nearly the same number of minutes that he accumulated in eight MLS games for Toronto in 2025.
Both of these young players desperately need playing time, especially as they'll be out of contract at the end of the season with Toronto having their options for next year. If they have any hope of coming back in 2026, they need to show what they can do and produce during their respective loan spells so that the Reds can make an informed decision.
John Molinaro
Overall grade for summer transfer window
This was an incredibly productive summer for Jason Hernandez. Long before the transfer window opened, he kicked things off by successfully negotiating two of the most lucrative, complex DP contract buyouts in league history. Hernandez followed that up by bringing in a new attacking DP in Djordje Mihailovic who isn't even in his prime and who could potentially be the cornerstone of the club for years to come.
Hernandez also accumulated over $1.7 million in GAM, freed up some valuable salary cap space, traded away an under-performing midfielder in Matty Longstaff (and received a promising young prospect in Jules-Anthony Vilsaint and GAM in exchange), got rid of two other players (Tyrese Spicer and Deybi Flores) who wanted to leave for more money (and added more GAM to the club's account), and secured a standout two-way midfielder in José Cifuentes on a year-long loan who is an upgrade on the player he replaced.
Hernandez was able to squeeze two transfer windows' worth of business into one this summer, while giving himself greater flexibility and more options to retool the roster during the off-season.
In isolation, this window might not seem like a big deal because it felt like phase one of the multi-part rebuild of the club with plenty of work still to come. We won’t know how truly valuable this window was until we see what moves follow in the off-season. But you have to begin somewhere and this appears to be a very good start.
“I think we are certainly the most flexible we've ever been, at least under my tenure with the club, which is great. …. We have a lot of hard work in front of us, but I think we certainly have put ourselves in a position to make real change and to take big steps,” Hernandez said.
Grade: A-minus
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The big picture: A lot of work to do for Hernandez
While the additions of Djordje Mihailovic and José Cifuentes make TFC a better team, there are still some big holes in the roster that need to be filled ahead of the 2026 season.
The club’s offensive woes have been well documented, as has the failure of TAM-level forward Ola Brynhildsen to make a goal-scoring impression during his loan spell. Toronto desperately needs to sign a proven striker in the off-season – somebody with a track record as a consistent goal scorer, either in MLS or from abroad. And it would appear that the club is going to use a DP slot to secure such a player.
"[There will be a] number of decisions come the off-season about folks and their futures with the club, and who's going to be part of the project moving forward with that. .... With that, we will also add a designated player in the off-season, [and] it will be an attacking player," Jason Hernandez promised.
The Reds could also use a centre back who could play anywhere across the back line in order to give itself greater defensive versatility. And they have to find a resolution to the Cassius Mailula situation: either sell him off or send him out on loan again, or fully integrate him into the first team.
There are also some big roster decisions to be made by Hernandez as no less than 15 players on the current roster will either be out of contract at the end of the season, at the end of their loans, or entering their option years for 2026.
Here’s a list of the players:
- Out of contract: Kevin Long
- End of loan: Ola Brynhildsen, Theo Corbeanu, Maxime Dominguez
- Option years in 2026: Sean Johnson, Raoul Petretta, Sigurd Rosted, Derrick Etienne Jr., Nathaniel Edwards, Kobe Franklin, Nicksoen Gomis, Deandre Kerr, Hugo Mbongue, Charlie Sharp, Kosi Thompson
There are a number of players on that list that have underwhelmed this season and who haven’t provided full value for their salary cap hits. Hernandez has the opportunity to remake the roster in a significant way by shedding a lot of dead wood in one fell swoop. But if he does that, he then has to go out and fill those vacant roster spots with quality players who would serve as upgrades.
Toronto is still dealing with some of the mistakes made by former sporting director Bob Bradley in terms of bad contacts on its books. But for the first time in a long time, it feels like there’s light at the end of the tunnel – that Jason Hernandez will soon no longer be handcuffed by the errors of others and will be free to remake the roster as he sees fit.
Needless to say, this off-season will be one of the most important in Toronto FC’s history as the short- and long-term future of the club hinges on it.
(Top photo by Orlando Ramirez/Imagn Images)
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