An EFL Championship star has completed a record-breaking move to Major League Soccer, with the transfer fee now revealed. - talk2soccer

Blog

An EFL Championship star has completed a record-breaking move to Major League Soccer, with the transfer fee now revealed.

Josh Sargent has completed a record-breaking move to Toronto FC.

The American has completed an initial £17 million transfer from Norwich City, with an additional £3.7 million in potential add-ons.




The fee is expected to exceed the £20 million that Los Angeles FC paid Tottenham Hotspur for Heung-min Son in August 2025.


Sargent’s move follows a 3-2 loss to FC Dallas in the 2026 MLS season opener.”I am thrilled to join Toronto FC and begin a new chapter with my family in Toronto,” he stated.I am grateful to everyone at the club for believing in me and supporting me throughout the process to make this move possible.



“What initially piqued my interest in the project was Toronto FC’s desire to be a competitive and winning side. I’m excited to get started and play in front of all of the supporters at BMO Field.”


Norwich, who are 17th in the Championship, initially rejected Toronto’s proposal for the forward.



The two teams had been in discussions for the past two months.


The United States international did not play for the Canaries after alerting head coach Philippe Clement that he was unavailable for selection in the 5-1 FA Cup win over Walsall on January 11.

Clement revealed that he received a text message from the forward informing him that he was unavailable for the match due to ‘transfer distractions’.

In the days that followed, Toronto’s interest became known, and their initial bid for Sargent fell short of Norwich’s assessment.

The forward was later penalized by club officials for refusing to play, and he trained separately from the first team squad.

Sargent’s departure is unlikely to disrupt Clement’s preparations for the remainder of the 2025/26 season.

The Belgian head coach has overseen an improving run of form, with eight wins in their previous ten.

Sargent joined Norwich from Bundesliga side Werder Bremen in 2021 and has 56 goals in 157 games for the club.

Furthermore, 38 of Sargent’s goals came in the Championship over the previous two and a half seasons.

In his absence, Jovon Makama and January acquisition Mohamed Toure have scored goals for the Championship side.

It is believed that Sargent wished to return to North America for family reasons, with a transfer to Toronto intriguing to him.

Toronto, who finished 12th in last season’s Eastern Conference, will face Canadian rivals Vancouver FC on Sunday.

 



xz

About the author

talk2soccer

Leave a Comment