MLS transfer rumors: Red Bull New York using World Cup break to finalize uncertain summer transfer window plans

What he can almost guarantee, though, is that it will not be nearly as busy as the winter window, which was dotted with the big-time signings of wingers Jorge Ruvalcaba and Cade Cowell, the sale of Noah Eile to English side Bristol City, and the arrival of defensive reinforcements like Justin Che, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Robert Voloder, and Julian Bazan. All were necessary moves in fulfilling the vision of first-year head coach Michael Bradley, who has introduced a marauding and offensively aggressive style to what had been, for so long, stagnant Red Bull play. 

With that, de Guzman has built a roster rife with young, developing stars capable of dazzling in attack in his first year at the position. With it has come the exceeding of initial expectations, as Red Bull hit the World Cup break sitting in fifth in the Eastern Conference.

Defensive questions, however, remain. Justin Che is injured, and Bazan is still finding his footing in North America after making the jump from Colombia. The remaining group at the back has had problems, conceding 32 goals, which is the third-most in the East.

“There will be a lot of work that we look into what happens in the summer window,” de Guzman said in an exclusive media round table at Red Bull’s new, state-of-the-art facilities on Thursday. “Does that mean that we’re going to repeat what happened in the winter window? Probably not. We could probably narrow it down to two areas in the field, and I cannot say that, ‘Yeah, we’re going to do it 100%.’ I cannot say that we have a name in place. I cannot say we even know what players are going to leave in the window because we may have offers coming our way that we may have to explore.

“Most important, it has to make sense performance-wise for the group, and right now, the team is performing in a good place. We’re happy all around, but we also want to make sure we have enough depth to get us across the finish line, meaning into the playoffs and then becoming a competitive team in the playoffs. You need depth. There’s no real answers to where we need to improve right now, but we know there’s going to be room for improvement when we talk about the depth of the team with rotations, fitness.”

Following a two-week break, Red Bull players will return to team facilities on June 11 — the same day as the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup — where their fitness levels and readiness for the restart of play next month will help de Guzman formulate his summer transfer window plans.

“That gives us some time, but we are certainly proactive in terms of where we could target in case a player gets traded, a player gets sold,” de Guzman added. “Lots of moving pieces, and we’re prepared, but for now, we’re in a good place.”

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