US stars in World Cup picture to keep eye on as European seasons begin

With the countdown to the 2026 World Cup in full swing, American soccer fans will have a greater interest in what’s going on overseas, with some of the U.S. Men’s National Team players competing in the Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga and elsewhere.

The 2025-26 season will be one of the most consequential for some players as they look to rebound or to build their cases as to why they should be a part of the American roster at the World Cup. And there may be no bigger spotlights than those on Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna.

Pulisic, entering his third year at AC Milan in Italy’s Serie A, has been the focus of criticism from USMNT alums for not participating in the Gold Cup this summer, which led to a very public spat that involved Landon Donovan and Pulisic’s father.

But the pride of Hershey, Pa., has become a sensation in Italy, scoring 32 goals in his first two seasons with AC Milan, and the club will need that as it hopes to improve from an eighth-place finish last season.

Pulisic had been dealing with a minor ankle injury, but he returned to full practice, and AC Milan doesn’t open the Serie A season until Aug. 23.

Reyna, for now, appears that he’ll start the year with German Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, though the writing on the wall seems to suggest his time there could be coming to an end.

While any potential transfer from Dortmund has moved at a crawl — Reyna had been linked to Serie A side Parma over the summer — the son of USMNT alum Claudio Reyna needs to get off to a fast start to help his World Cup chances.

After he saw just 12 minutes during Dortmund’s run in the Club World Cup and the club announced it had given the prestigious No. 7 that Reyna had worn since 2021 to another player, it seems like playing time could be tough for him to see until a move is made.

Here are some other USMNT players to keep an eye on during the European season:

Tyler Adams, AFC Bournemouth (Premier League): The USMNT captain and former Red Bull midfielder is coming off his best season with the club and is developing into one of the leaders for Bournemouth, which finished in the top half of the table in 2024-25.

Brenden Aaronson, Leeds United (Premier League): The midfielder appeared in five matches during the USMNT run in the Gold Cup, scoring a goal and registering an assist. Last year, he helped Leeds finish first in the EFL Championship — England’s second division — to earn a promotion back to the Premier League.

Malik Tillman, Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga): Tillman made the jump to Bayer Leverkusen this summer from PSV in the Netherlands. In two years with PSV, he had 25 goals and 17 assists while helping the club win back-to-back league titles.

Timothy Weah, Olympique de Marseille (Ligue 1): After two seasons with Juventus in Italy, Weah is back in Ligue 1. The move will give Weah some all-important playing time heading into 2026 after making 78 appearances and scoring 14 goals for Juventus.

Sergiño Dest, PSV Eindhoven (Eredivisie): The fullback has come out firing to start the season for Dutch club PSV, scoring in the first game of the season last weekend, and he was a key contributor the week before when he scored the winning goal in the Dutch Super Cup. He missed a majority of the 2024-25 season due to a torn ACL and had to pull out of the Gold Cup because of an injury.

Johnny Cardoso, Atlético Madrid (LaLiga): The 23-year-old midfielder completed a transfer to Atlético Madrid last month from rival Real Betis and hopes to put a disappointing summer at the Gold Cup — injury hindered him from making much of an impact with the USMNT — behind him.