Feature

Where do things stand with TFC's roster right now?

TFC Republic takes a deep dive into Toronto FC's roster with the 2026 MLS season set to kick off in less than a month.

John Molinaro

Jan 23, 2026 — 16 min read

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The clock continues to tick down for Toronto FC.

TFC begins their 2026 MLS regular season on the road vs. FC Dallas on Feb. 21. But even though that match is roughly a month away, the Reds have been one of the quietest teams in MLS this winter in terms of making roster additions. Thus far the only newcomers the club has signed are centre back Walker Zimmerman, fullback Matheus Pereira and goalkeeper William Yarbrough.

It's a curious state of affairs for a team that finished with a 6-14-14 record in 2025 (12th in the Eastern Conference) and failed to make the playoffs for a fifth consecutive year.

Where do things stand with the squad at the moment? What holes still have to be filled? What moves are still to come?

Let’s take a look at Toronto FC's squad as it stands position-by-position and the roster numbers.

(All players listed below are under contract for the 2026 MLS season).

GOALKEEPERS (3)

(Adisa De Rosario, Luka Gavran, William Yarbrough)

Sean Johnson's off-season exit left a big hole in the Toronto FC's roster. Johnson was the club's MVP last year, but he was also one of the highest-paid goalkeepers in MLS ($1,063,125 US). The club was looking to bring that number down after it declined Johnson's contract option for 2026. When they couldn't come to terms on a new deal, the veteran joined D.C. United as a free agent in December.

Johnson's departure left the door wide open for Luke Gavran to become the No. 1 starter in 2026. Gavran, from Hamilton, Ont., served as Johnson's understudy for more than two years and did quite well in the few chances he was given to play. Gavran is a much cheaper option than Johnson – he made $128,475 last season. He's also 25, so TFC are banking on the Canadian to become a foundational piece for the next few years. Is Gavran ready to be an MLS starter? We'll find out in 2026.

“In the games he got into last year, I thought he did really well,” coach Robin Fraser said. “So, I would think that Luka’s really hungry at this point, so this is a real opportunity for him."

The recent signing of veteran goalkeeper William Yarbrough was essentially an insurance move by TFC, as he was brought in to keep Gavran honest – if the youngster falters at all in his first MLS season as a No. 1 goalkeeper, Toronto has an experienced back up option they can immediately deploy.

“I would say Will’s competitive fire never burns out … He is so dialed in and such a hard worker and so good with his team and how he delivers his messages. We certainly expect it to be a good level of competition for both of them, and I think they are both going to improve because of each other,” Fraser stated.

At 21 years old, Adisa De Rosario will continue to serve as the third stringer and start for TFC 2 in MLS NEXT Pro, unless he's sent out on loan to another club.

DEFENDERS (10)

(Kobe Franklin, Nicksoen Gomis, Stefan Kapor, Richie Laryea, Zane Monlouis, Adam Pearlman, Matheus Pereira, Lazar Stefanovic, Henry Wingo, Walker Zimmerman)

Robin Fraser’s emphasis on defensive solidity and being a team that makes it hard for opponents to break down resulted in the Reds giving up just 44 goals in 2025 (tied for seventh best in MLS). That was an improvement of 17 goals compared to the previous season. But three members of last year's back line have left TFC – centre backs Sigurd Rosted and Kevin Long and fullback Raoul Petretta either didn't have their options for 2026 picked up or weren't signed to a new contract.

Enter free agent Walker Zimmerman, a two-time MLS defender of the year and five-time MLS Best XI. Zimmerman, 32, was one of the biggest names in the MLS free agent market this off-season, and TFC will be looking for him to anchor the back line and make a major impact both on and off the field like Drew Moor did when he joined the Reds in 2016.

Fraser cited Zimmerman’s leadership, character and desire to mentor young players among his best attributes

“These are all things that you’d think might be easy to find, but they’re not … To find actual leaders, I think, is very difficult to do. And I think we’ve found not just a good leader but a great leader," said Fraser, a two-time MLS defender of the year during his playing days.

Another newcomer Matheus Pereira will slot in at the left fullback spot vacated by Petretta. The club wants him to offer the same kind of support to the attack on the left side as Richie Laryea does on the right. He also might be used at the wingback spot, which would give Henry Wingo (naturally a right fullback) or Kobe Franklin a chance to fill in at left fullback.

If Fraser decides to play with a back four, the big question becomes who will partner Zimmerman in the middle of the defence? Will he turn to youngsters Lazar Stefanovic (19) or Adam Pearlman (20), who have come up through the team's youth system? Could he continue to use midfielder Kosi Thompson as a centre back like he did late in the 2025 season? Or will he put his trust in Europeans Nicksoen Gomis (23) or Zane Monloius (22), who are both a little older but missed most of last season with injuries?

How the team's training camp in Spain unfolds over the next three weeks could determine whether or not defensive reinforcements will be added by GM Jason Hernandez.

"We understand very clearly [what] Walker brings to the table. And we're quite excited about the prospects of some of our younger defenders. Unfortunately, Nicksoen Gomis and Zane Monlouis, their season was cut short due to injury last year, and so they'll be up and getting themselves going for pre-season," Hernandez explained.

"And so, our time in Spain will reveal a lot about where those guys are in the cycle leading into 2026, because we understand them to be very talented young defenders. And so, how ready they are and where they fit in the coach's plans will tell us a little bit more about if we need to continue to be mindful of that space and bolster that space."

As for Stefan Kapor, still only 16, look for him to spend the season on loan at TFC 2 in MLS NEXT Pro.

MIDFIELDERS (7)

(José Cifuentes, Marcus Cimermancic, Alonso Coello, Malik Henry, Djordje Mihailovic, Jonathan Osorio, Kosi Thompson)

Toronto pulled off a major coup last summer when it acquired Djordje Mihailovic in a cash-for-player trade with the Colorado Rapids. The club's new DP hit the ground running by finishing with four goals and four assists in just 10 appearances for the Reds. His eight goal contributions tied him with Theo Corbeanu (32 games) and Federico Bernardeschi (15) for the club lead on the season.

Mihailovic has a full off-season and pre-season under his belt, so he'll be expected to build upon those numbers with a full campaign ahead of him while most likely being deployed as Toronto's chief No. 10.

Other key figures in midfield are captain Jonathan Osorio (who by his own admission didn't have the best season in 2025) and Spaniard Alonso Coello (who came into his own last year). Toronto needs more offensive out of both of them this year – Osorio had four goals in 2025; Coello had one – to help lessen the goal-scoring burden of the forwards and Mihailovic.

José Cifuentes only played in seven games (six starts) totalling 490 minutes for TFC in 2025, collecting one assist along the way, as fitness issues prevented him from seeing more action. The Ecuadorian's loan deal runs out in June, so he has a short window of time to step up in a big way and impress TFC enough for them to trigger his purchase option.

Kosi Thompson impressed during the second half of last season in which he logged over 2,100 minutes and 23 starts, so it'll be interesting to see if that translates into the same type of opportunities in 2026.

One would suspect that Marcus Cimermancic, 21, will struggle for playing time like he did last year. Malik Henry showed well after joining the first team in August, but will he be preferred over more experienced wingers Theo Corbeanu and Derrick Etienne Jr?

FORWARDS (4)

(Theo Corbeanu, Derrick Etienne Jr., Deandre Kerr, Jules-Anthony Vilsaint)

This is TFC's biggest problem area at the moment as they only have two outright strikers in Deandre Kerr and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint. Both are promising prospects, but neither one should be expected to lead the attack by logging the most minutes at the forward position this season. Wingers Theo Corbeanu and Derrick Etienne Jr can also play at the No. 9, but it's unreasonable to expect either one of them to serve as the TFC's go-to forward in 2026.

TFC was tied with Austin FC for the third-worst offensive record in MLS last year with just 37 goals, which was down from the 40 they scored in 2024. Kerr (four goals) and Ola Brynhildsen (two) were the only forwards to score multiple goals in MLS last season – Vilsaint had one goal. Corbeanu was the team’s top scorer with a paltry six goals.

The Reds simply can’t go into the 2026 campaign with the same group of forwards; they need someone else to lead the line and spearhead the attack. Getting a new DP striker, either from abroad or elsewhere in MLS, who has a proven track record of scoring 10 or more goals per season on a consistent basis is the club’s top priority this off-season.

“As far as the marquee attacker, we continue to do work in that space. I would say we've had several meaningful conversations with different targets, and so we're hopeful that we can continue to do the work and certainly land on someone prior to matchday 1,” Jason Hernandez said earlier this month.

Josh Sargent fits the bill of what the Reds are looking for in a new DP striker as the U.S. international has scored 56 goals for Norwich City in 157 games since joining the club in 2021. Toronto have tabled an $18 million US bid for Norwich City for Sargent, who is currently training with the Canaries' youth team and is being benched for disciplinary reasons after refusing to play in an FA Cup match earlier this season, according to the club. But by all accounts, the Reds will have to increase their bid if they hope to land Sargent.

Irrespective of whether Sargent or someone else comes in as the new DP striker, at least one more forward has to be brought in order to give Robin Fraser enough attacking options up front.

"We are certainly looking at a number of players. Jason and the scouting team have done a really good job of identifying a couple of different types of attacking players and making the inroads that we need to with them," Fraser said last week.

"So, we feel like before it's all said and done, we will be pretty happy with what we have up front. But certainly, we're working through a number of different players, options, evaluating what styles best fit into what we want to do."

The roster numbers

There 24 TFC players who are under contract for the 2026 season, not including Cassius Mailula who is on loan in Belgium with K.V. Kortrijk. MLS rosters are capped at 30 players, so TFC have six open slots to use.

Teams must have at least 18 and no more than 20 players on their senior roster. By our count, there are 14 players on the senior roster and 10 on the supplemental roster at the moment. Only senior roster players count against the salary cap; supplemental players don't.

Senior players (roster slots 1-20): Luka Gavran, William Yarbrough, Richie Laryea, Zane Monlouis, Matheus Pereira, Henry Wingo, Walker Zimmerman, José Cifuentes, Alonso Coello, Djordje Mihailovic, Jonathan Osorio, Theo Corbeanu, Derrick Etienne Jr, Jules-Anthony Vilsaint

Supplemental players (roster slots 21-30): Adisa De Rosario, Kobe Franklin, Nicksoen Gomis, Stefan Kapor, Adam Pearlman, Lazar Stefanovic, Kosi Thompson, Marcus Cimermancic, Malik Henry, Deandre Kerr

MLS clubs are not required to fill roster slots 19 and 20, but they do need to have at least 18 players on their senior roster. Teams are slapped with a minimum salary budget charge for each unfilled senior roster slot below 18.

That means GM Jason Hernandez has to sign at least four senior players by the MLS roster compliance date, which is on Feb. 20. Assuming he gets a DP striker, three other senior team players have to be brought in before the start of the season. He can achieve this via transfers, making trades with other MLS teams once the league's primary transfer window opens next week, or by converting someone on the team's supplemental roster into a senior roster player.

Both Hernandez and Robin Fraser have talked openly about how the club is looking at several players to bring in, so adding four new senior roster players before the roster compliance date shouldn't be a problem.

Three other things to keep in mind about the roster numbers:

1) Teams also don't have to use all 10 supplemental roster slots.

2) Team have a 31st roster slot (it doesn't count against the salary cap) that they can use on a player who is sent out on a season-long loan to a lower-division club in the U.S. or Canada. Such a player can't be recalled (except as a short-term call-up) for the remainder of the MLS campaign. Defender Adam Pearlman filled the No. 31 roster slot in 2025 when he spent the year on loan at Halifax Wanderers in the CPL.

3) Teams are also allowed to have an "off-roster homegrown player" on their roster who also doesn't count against the salary cap. Such players are ineligible to play in MLS, except as short-term call-ups (no more than six times per season). Goalkeeper Adisa De Rosario was an off-roster homegrown player in 2025 when he spent most of the season with TFC 2 in MLS NEXT Pro.

Domestic and international roster slots

MLS players are basically divided into two main categories: "domestic" or "international."

On U.S.-based clubs, a domestic player is defined as someone who is either an American citizen, a permanent resident, or someone who meets the requirements of the homegrown international rule. (To read my story explaining the Homegrown International Rule, CLICK HERE).

For TFC and the two other Canadian clubs in MLS, a domestic player is defined as someone who is either a Canadian citizen (such as Jonathan Osorio), a U.S. citizen (such as Djordje Mihailovic), or a player who qualifies under the Homegrown International Rule. It should be noted that there isn't a limit on how many domestic players Canadian and U.S. clubs can have on their rosters. However, TFC, CF Montreal and the Vancouver Whitecaps must always have at least three Canadian domestic players on their rosters.

On U.S.-based clubs, any player who does not qualify as a U.S. domestic player is considered an international player (such as Lionel Messi at Inter Miami). For TFC and the Canadian clubs, any player who does not qualify as a domestic player is considered an international player (such as English defender Zane Monlouis).

For the 2026 MLS season, all MLS clubs are given eight international roster slots.

It's important to keep in mind that international roster slots can be traded, so some teams might have more or fewer than eight at any given time. There isn't any kind of limit in terms of trading international roster slots.

TFC only has seven international roster slots right now – they traded one of them to Minnesota United FC in exchange for $300,000 US in 2026 GAM earlier this month.

However, Toronto can use three extra international slots beyond the seven they already have because of a rule change introduced by MLS prior to the 2022 season. Here’s how it reads:

In addition to the International Roster Slots, each Canadian Club is permitted to designate up to three (3) International Players who have been under contract with MLS and registered with one or more Canadian clubs for at least one year who will not count toward the club’s International Roster Slots.

So, up to three international players who have more than one year of MLS service with a Canadian club don't count against the international roster limit. In the case of Toronto FC, this applies to Alonso Coello (Spain), Zane Monlouis (England) and Nicksoen Gomis (France).

It's also important to keep in mind that Ecuadorian midfielder José Cifuentes doesn't count as an international player on TFC's roster – he earned his U.S. Green Card in 2021 when he was with LAFC, so he's classified as a domestic player.

Aside from the aforementioned trio of Coello, Monlouis and Gomis, the only other international player on Toronto's squad at the moment is Brazilian fullback Matheus Pereira. That means the Reds have six international roster slots they can use to sign players or trade away.

DPs and U22 initiative players

All MLS teams have to declare what roster model they will adopt by the league's roster compliance date on Feb. 20.

MLS clubs must adhere to one of two roster models. The first one allows teams to sign as many as three designated players and as many as three U22 Initiative players. The second one allows teams to have up to two DPs and up to four U22s, plus they receive an additional $2 million US in general allocation money.

Teams can switch between models mid-season, so long as they do so before the league’s secondary transfer window closes.

However, there are conditions involved for changing models. If a team changes from 2 DPs/4 U22s to 3 DPs, it has to use $1 million or less of the additional GAM it received and have no more than three U22 Initiative players on their roster. Teams who switch from the 3 DP to 2 DPs/4 U22s model are only allowed to invest up to $1 million of the additional GAM during the remainder of the season and can have no more than two DPs on their roster.

At the moment, Toronto has one DP on its roster in Djordje Mihailovic and one U22 in Cassius Mailula (because he's on loan, he actually doesn't count against the team's U22 limit). So, Jason Hernandez must decide in the next month whether he wants to sign just one more DP and pocket the $2 million US in GAM or go all out and add two more DPs to his roster.

Europe's transfer window vs. MLS primary transfer window

The transfer window closes on Feb. 2 for most leagues in Europe. At that point, European clubs won't be able to bring in any new players on transfer deals, but they'll still be able to sell players to teams who abide by a different transfer window.

MLS announced this week that its primary window will open on Jan. 26 and close on March 26, while the secondary window runs from July 13 until Sept. 2.

What that means is that Toronto FC would still be able to bring in Josh Sargent after the European window closes even if it can't reach a deal with Norwich before Europe's window closes. The Reds would also be able to sign any other player on a transfer deal up until March 26, although they'll ideally want to add any newcomers to their roster in time for their season opener on Feb. 21.

The opening of the primary transfer window also means MLS teams can also start making trades with each other.

(Top photo by Joseph Maiorana/Imagn Images)

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