Major League Soccer’s summer transfer window, the league’s most important time for buying and selling players, opens Thursday. It aligns with the European offseason, so more global players are available (and available at good prices) than at any other time of the year.

Many of the league’s top clubs are working on acquiring players. Here are three potential transfers worth watching:

Rodrigo De Paul (Argentina) to Inter Miami

If Inter Miami’s transfer policy is structured around making Lionel Messi happy, then signing De Paul — the Argentinian defensive midfielder known affectionately as “Messi’s Bodyguard” — is a no-brainer.

De Paul is a world-class athlete, but he doesn’t mind sacrificing his game to improve Messi’s.

“A lot of the time, the analysis that I do while I’m playing leads me to try to make him [Messi] run less,” De Paul said, per The Athletic. “To make less wear and tear and to have more space to play with — these are things that cross my mind during the match.”

De Paul, 31, has played for Atletico Madrid since 2021, building a reputation as a physically impressive, hard-nosed midfielder. He’s adept at breaking up plays and launching quick counterattacks. Miami doesn’t have a designated player spot available for De Paul, but if he’s willing to take a smaller contract for the rest of the 2025 season, Miami probably can offer big numbers for 2026 and beyond. 

Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets is widely expected to leave Miami at that time; De Paul could slot perfectly into the space he’ll vacate.