USMNT midfielder Sebastian Berhalter leaving MLS for English club after World Cup

Sebastian Berhalter is soon to be off to the United Kingdom. The U.S.men’s national team midfielder is headed to Middlesbrough as his current club, the Whitecaps of the MLS, finalizes a deal with the English side, according to multiple reports. Middlesbrough, which plays in the English Championship, is slated to pay a transfer fee of roughly $2 million for Berhalter, who is the son of former USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter.The writing was on the wall that Berhalter’s time with the MLS club would be coming to an end when the Whitecaps kept him off the pitch on Wednesday night when they faced FC Cincinnati in Ohio.

The Province reported that same day that transfer talks were heating up for Berhalter, and The Athletic noted that six to 10 clubs had been in pursuit of the 25-year-old. Berhalter was in the final year of his contract in Vancouver, and he’s developed into a major talent during his time north of the border. He is coming off a summer where he made the United States’ roster for the World Cup and appeared in all five of the USMNT’s matches during the tournament, registering a goal and an assist.In league play, Berhalter has shined for the Whitecaps, earning MLS Best XI honors in 2025 and being named to the MLS All-Star Game this year. Berhalter was on a Whitecaps squad that reached the MLS Cup final last season as well as the Concacaf Champions Cup final.In his time in Vancouver, he has appeared in 167 matches across all competitions and scored 20 goals. Berhalter has seen a meteoric rise since the Whitecaps acquired him in 2022 in a trade for a mere $50,000 in general allocation money. Before Vancouver, he had spent time with the Columbus Crew and Austin FC....