Charlotte FC Offseason Review
It’s almost time for another season of MLS soccer in the Queen City. Charlotte finished the 2024 season 5th in the Eastern Conference with 51 points and advanced to the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs, where they fell to Orlando City.
The offseason has been exciting for the Crown with some new faces joining the squad and some familiar faces departing. Midfielder Scott Arfield, who made 33 appearances for the club, left to join Bolton Wanderers in the third tier of the English football pyramid. Karol Świderski joined Greek side Panathinaikos FC on a permanent transfer. Karol was spectacular during his 85 appearances for Charlotte, finding the back of the net 32 times and assisting teammates 15 times, both club leading statistics. Defender Jere Uronen leaves to take his talents to the Swedish league with AIK Football. Uronen made 38 appearances last season with 33 of those being starts. In those 38 matches, he assisted his teammates five times. It always hurts when a team loses familiar faces, but sometimes a move can benefit both the player and the club. I wish nothing but the best for Scott and Jere in the future. Out of the three players mentioned, Świderski will be, in my opinion, the toughest to replace but myself (and many Charlotte fans) hope Patrick Agyemang can be the next great attacker in the Queen City.
And now for the new faces joining the squad. Midfielder Pep Biel returns on loan for the 2025 season from Świderski’s new team Panathinaikos. Last season, Biel featured 11 times and contributed two goals and three assists. Charlotte made a trade with fellow MLS side Portland Timbers for midfielder Eryk Williamson, who was capped 100 times by the Timbers and tallied six goals and 20 assists. Charlotte completed the trade by meeting Portland's asking price of $100,000 in General Allocation Money. Now for the big one, Wilfred Zaha joins the club on loan from Turkish giants Galatasaray who he joined for the 2023 season after a decade in the Premier League. In England, Zaha played for Crystal Palace, Manchester United, and Cardiff City where he made 305 appearances, scoring 68 times. The move I'm most excited for is Zaha. I enjoyed playing with him on FIFA and hope he can have some amazing goals for the Crown. Getting Biel back is important because he knows the culture and the way Dean Smith likes to opperate. Experience is key for young teams and getting a player like Williamson will help, as I think he can teach some of the new guys how the game is played in the MLS. Overall, I think these additions will help not only the offense but also the team as a whole this year.
Three players will be coming to the Queen City after being selected in the MLS Superdraft. Defender Mikah Thomas was selected out of Uconn with the 9th pick after Charlotte traded the 17th pick and $100,000 to San Diego FC. Another defender, Andrew Johnson was selected with the 47th overall pick out of Cornell University. In the third round, forward Barzee Blama was selected with the 77th pick out of Mercer University. Best of luck to the new faces joining the team this season. The MLS is different from the NFL or the NBA. I would compare it to the MLB, as if your top picks can contribute right away, that's amazing. If they need a couple seasons of development on loan, that’s perfectly reasonable. I do hope the guys will be able to contribute to an MLS title for Charlotte in the future.
Overall, I really like the additions the club made in the offseason and can’t wait to see how Dean Smith organizes the guys and sets up his tactical vision. I have high hopes for this season of MLS soccer in Charlotte.
Charlotte begins their season at 10:30 pm EST on February 22nd at Lumen Field in Seattle with a match against the Seattle Sounders before returning home on March 1st to face Atlanta United in the team’s regular season home opener at Bank of America Stadium. The match versus Atlanta is scheduled for a 2:00 pm EST kick off. Stay locked in all season for soccer updates around the Crown.