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European notebook

European notebook: Balogun deal collapses, Bombino & McGlynn move, and much more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta is here to walk you through a busy Deadline Day as well as how Americans have performed in recent games in Europe
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
September 01, 2026
6:55 PM

IT HAS BEEN A CRAZY TIME for American players in Europe the last several days. We’ve seen good performances, bad performances, and many in the middle. Then with regards to the transfer window, we saw a lot of movement and then watched a mega deal collapse at the last minute.

Here is the news and some thoughts on it.

 

Balogun move to Everton collapses

 

On a wild Deadline Day, the biggest story was that U.S. national team forward Folarin Balogun saw a move to Everton collapse at the last minute. Everton and Monaco had agreed to a transfer fee and the striker was in England to complete the deal.

But issues came about during the medical exam in Liverpool which concerned Everton. At that point, the teams tried to negotiate a different fee that was lower but more bonus oriented. But at the last minute, the deal was called off and Balogun left the Everton facilities.

This move was important for Balogun has he has wanted to return to England for another attempt at the Premier League. He began his career with Arsenal but only made two Premier League appearances before going on loan to Middlesbrough and then to Stade de Reims, before he was sold to Monaco.

It likely does not mean much to the U.S. national team as Balogun is fully developed and will continue to remain the same player – assuming, of course, that the injury which caused the collapse is not serious.

For Balogun, this is a significant set back and he will now have to return to a Monaco team that was preparing to move on without him.

Whether Everton tries again in January or whether Monaco and Balogun have a frayed relationship remains to be seen but this was managed very poorly by both clubs.

 

Bombino joins Stoke, debuts

 

As one of the best young left backs in MLS, Luca Bombino is now a member of Stoke City after completing a move to the English Championship team on Tuesday after a strong 18 month run with San Diego FC. Stoke City had been off to a terrible start in the Championship after losing its first three games. The question is whether Bombino (along with McGlynn) can help lead a turnaround and whether Stoke City will allow him to have a showcase to develop and push for a move in the future?

The early signs are promising after Bombino made his debut for Stoke City just hours after the deal was announced. With Stoke City up 1-0 on Norwich, Bombino came into the game to start the second half. He actually played out of position on the right side and while he only completed three passes in the half, Bombino forced a save in the 70th minute and worked hard to win duels and defend. Overall, he played a role in Stoke’s first win of the season and set himself up for more playing time.

 

Bombino, 20, is likely the starting left back for the U.S. Olympic team and should be a candidate to eventually replace Antonee Robinson on the national team. He took huge strides with San Diego, but it is a gamble to potentially enter a relegation battle in the Championship.

 

McGlynn also signs for Stoke City

 

Stoke City appears to be going heavily after American players and Jack McGlynn is ready to also help the club climb back up the Championship table.

McGlynn, 23, is further along in his career than Bombino and should be able to help the team right away. With his strong left foot, McGlynn can rip shots from distance and have a long range of passing that can switch the points of attack quickly.

 

After several years in MLS with Philadelphia and Houston, McGlynn is ready for a move now but he has a lot on his plate as he cannot afford to have Stoke mired in a relegation battle for long. He must help Stoke push up towards midtable in the weeks ahead.

Despite not making the World Cup team, McGlynn should remain in the mix for the U.S. team as he offers the team a strong shot from distance and a quality left foot. Unfortunately for him, he just got injured at the wrong time.

 

Pukstas to Boro announced

 

The deal had been known for awhile, Rokas Pukstas has been announced as a new Middlesbrough player after helping his previous club, Hajduk Split, qualify for the Conference League last week.

Pukstas will become the club’s fourth American after Max Arfsten, Sebastian Berhalter, and Aidan Morris – the last two are also midfielders.

Pukstas is different than Morris and Berhalter as he is more of a scoring threat and an attacker in the box. Berhalter and Morris are top passers from deeper positions. There is room for all three.

But in an interesting bit of news, Boro is clearing the table for Pukstas by selling Morgan Whittaker to the Colorado Rapids in MLS.


 

Scally move is unlikely

 

Just days after Borussia Monchengladbach’s sporting director said Joe Scally likely needs to find a new club, it now appears as if the Long Island fullback will stay with the club.

Scally has been consistently good for M’Gladbach over the past five seasons where he always plays more than 2000 minutes a season. After an ugly 3-0 loss to Leipzig in the opener, Monchengladbach might now want to hang onto a player who is consistently good – even if he is not flashy.

Scally trained with Monchengladbach on Tuesday and there were no reports of medicals or deals being close.

 

Downs to St. Louis CITY

 

It has been a tough time for Damion Downs since leaving Koln in May 2025 following their promotion to the Bundesliga. He never got going with the U.S. national team at the Gold Cup. His transfer to Southampton immediately went sour and a winter loan back to Germany with Hamburg SV did not see any success.

Downs, 22, is now set to join St. Louis CITY in MLS to try to get his career on track. That would be fine, except for the fact that St. Louis is also bringing in DP forward Rafa Navarro from Colorado.

In other words, Downs looks to be heading to St. Louis to be a backup forward.

 

Gomez heads to Chicago

 

Johan Gomez, 25, has played the last three seasons in the 2.Bundesliga with Eintracht Braunschweig and has mostly been in relegation battles. Now he will be returning stateside to join the Chicago Fire.

 

It is a low-profile move, but one that will give Gomez a nice change of scenery – which he needs as he as been stagnating.

 

Flach & Gomez move to Osnabruck

 

Newly promoted 2.Bundesliga club VFL Osnabruck picked up a pair of Americans on deadline day in left back Jonathan Gomez on loan from PAOK in Greece, and defensive midfielder Leon Flach on loan from Jagiellonia Bia?ystok in Poland. Both players have seen their careers stagnate recently and should find minutes in the lower half of the 2.Bundesliga.

 

For Flach, this returns him to the league where his career started, the 2.Bundesliga with St. Pauli.

 

 

Pefok to Furth

 

Jordan Pefok, 30, has had a terrible run the last two seasons. His move back to Stade de Reims in France did not positively reset his career. The he did not produce on loan to Tondela in Portugal, where the club was relegated.

Now Pefok is off to the 2.Bundesliga to join Greuther Furth, which narrowly avoided relegation.

 


 

Other notes from abroad


Here are some of the bigger observations from the last week for Americans in Europe.

 

In Italy: Musah rise, McKennie rested

 

Weston McKennie, 27, did not play for Juventus on Saturday’s 2-0 win over Parma. The reasons given were “fatigue” and a muscle injury. Given that it is just the second game of the season, it is not good news for McKennie.

Meanwhile, U.S. Olympic hopeful Benjamin Cremaschi played the last 29 minutes for Parma but did not make a noticeable impact.

Milan got past Venezia 2-0. Yunus Musah started yet again for Milan and appears to be in perhaps the best club situation he has had since arriving in Italy. He appears to have a firm role carved out at Milan to start the season. As that happens, Musah will likely have more chances with the national team.

Gianluca Busio once again started for Venezia and was the team’s best player in the loss. He actually is playing well but It appears as if another relegation battle is ahead. The hope is that after this season, at least, he will have options to avoid another trip to Serie B.

 

In England: Gozo debuts

 

In Englnad, Manchester City pounded Crystal Palace 4-1. The biggest story from this game was that Zavier Gozo, 18, made his Premier League debut when he came off the bench in the 68th minute and brought a little bit of life to a Palace team that was being overrun. He made one nice pass to send a ball into the attack and tried to be aggressive. He is still getting up to speed with his new team and league, but it was encouraging.

On the other hand, it was a tough day at the office for Chris Richards who went 90 minutes and could have done better on at least one Man City goal. Palace have lost both games to start the season with a -5 goal differential.

Fulham also has no points from its first two games after a 1-0 loss to Sunderland. Antonee Robinson did not do much over his 90 minutes on the field.  

For the second straight game to start the season, Tyler Admas subbed into a game for Bournemouth with the lead. In both games, Bournemouth could not hold on for a win. On Sunday it was a 1-1 draw with Everton, which equalized in stoppage time.

Also of note, Brenden Aaronson played the first half for Leeds United in a 1-1 draw with Brentford on Sunday. He was subbed out after having made just 13 touches in the first 45 minutes.

 

Yanks in Germany: Campbell impresses

 

In the opening weekend in the Bundesliga, the biggest story was the impressive club debut for Cole Campbell who is trying to make his way at Elversberg. The tiny club earned promotion to the Bundesliga last season for the first time. While many predicted a quick relegation, Elversberg had an extremely impressive preseason. Then in its first ever Bundesliga game, Elversberg defeated Bayer Leverkusen 3-2.

Campbell, 20, had a poor season in 2025/26 but is looking for a fresh start with Elversberg. The club, meanwhile, is hoping to survive on the backs of young and undervalued players who were developed at bigger clubs – like Campbell.

Against Leverkusen, Campbell scored and was routinely dangerous in his 65 minutes on the field. It was a great sign that he might finally have found a place to blossom. If so, he could become a big part of the U.S. Olympic team.

Meanwhile, it was not a good game from Malk Tillman who started for Leverkusen.

Staying in the Bundesliga, American defensive midfielder Santiago Castaneda, 21, made his league debut while going 90 minutes for Paderborn in a 0-0 draw with Mainz. Castaneda was mostly quiet but still played well to make positive contributions to allow Paderborn to escape with a point. The Tampa native had 10 clearances and won a healthy percentage of his duels as part of a strong first step in the top flight.

On Tuesday, Mathis Albert started and played 90 minutes for Borussia Dortmund in a 5-0 win over HEBC Hamburg (5th tier Oberliga) in the DFB Pokal.

 

In Holland: Dest surges in PSV blowout win

 

PSV pounded Utrecht 6-1 over the weekend, and Sergino Dest is likely the best fullback in the Eredivisie now. The U.S. national team right back scored and assisted in ths game and was dangerous over his 90 minutes.

If he stays healthy, it is very easy to see this as his final year with PSV. The Champions League is enticing but the Eredivisie offers him little. He has seen moves backfire (such as his loan to AC Milan), but a thoughtful move could be the right approach.

 

In France: lackluster weekend for Yanks

 

It was not a great weekend for Americans in France’s Ligue 1.

Without Balogun, Monaco easily defeated Marseille 2-0, Tim Weah was neither good nor bad over a full 90 shift at right back captaining Marseille.

Bryan Reynolds was an unused sub for Rennes in a 3-2 win over Le Mans. At this point he looks as if he was brought into Rennes as a backup.

Mark McKenzie is rumored to be returning to Philadelphia in January but he went 90 minutes for Toulouse in a 2-2 draw away with Brest. Toulouse were second away from winning this game but conceded late into stoppage time to settle for a point.

Tanner Tessmann was an unused substitute for Lyon in a 1-1 draw with Le Havre.

In an odd coincidence, the best performance by an American in France this weekend went to Gio Reyna who earned his first club start for Strasbourg and went 76 minutes in an upset win over Lens. Reyna left the game with the score tied 1-1 but played well in his time on the field as he frequently pushed the ball forward into the attack and was very effective in creating danger.

This was the type of performance we have not seen from Reyna in years. But the challenges with Reyna are consistency and durability. That is only something that can be answered over time.

 

Yanks Elsewhere

 

Diego Kochen had his best appearance thus far for Lyngby when he made seven saves in a 1-1 draw with OB. The potential Olympic team goalkeeper was arguably the man of the match in helping Lyngby secure a point. The club is still without a win this season but it has three draws and three losses from six games for three points.

In Spain, Alex Freeman subbed into Villarreal’s 1-0 loss to Alaves in the 62nd minute and brought some life to his team during his time on the field. Unfortunately, it was not enough and Villarreal is still searching for its first win of the season after three games.

Johnny Cardoso only played the final five minutes for Atletico in a 3-1 win over Sevilla and he clearly has work to do in order to carve out a meaningful role on the his team.

American manager Pellegrino Matarazzo was sent off in stoppage time for dissent as his Real Sociedad team defeated Espanyol.

Gabriel Wessah, 18, subbed into Fredrikstad’s 4-1 win over Lillestrom in the 59th minute and assisted on his team’s final goal in the 79th minute. Slowly he is finding his way towards more meaningful contributions and has helped his team out of a relegation battle and into midtable.

Robert Deziel Jr., 21, played 85 minutes in central defense for Legia Warsaw in a 1-1 draw with Slask Wroclaw on Friday. He remains in a position to help the Olympic team in central defense, where more depth options are needed.

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