![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769482808_771_r1344124_600x600_1-1.jpg&h=80&w=80&scale=crop.jpeg\")
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Jeff CarlisleJan 26, 2026, 08:47 PM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC.<\/p>\n LaLiga side Villarreal<\/a> is finalizing the acquisition of United States and Orlando City defender Alex Freeman<\/a> for a transfer fee of around $4 million with incentives possibly increasing the amount to $6.5 million, a source with knowledge of the deal told ESPN.<\/p>\n His club side Orlando City SC<\/a> will also receive 15% of any future transfer, the source added.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n The deal, if completed, amounts to an impressive bit of business for Orlando given that Freeman’s contract was set to expire at the end of 2026, meaning he could have signed a pre-contract with another club as early as this summer, and left on a free transfer at the end of the year.<\/p>\n Freeman also could have re-signed with Orlando, and was offered a max-U22 deal that would have paid him around $800,000 annually. But he opted instead to join Villarreal<\/a> immediately. The source added that the documents are being finalized.<\/p>\n Villarreal is in fourth place in LaLiga and firmly within the Champions League places a little over halfway through the season.<\/p>\n Freeman, 21, has seen his value skyrocket over the last year, not only making 30 league and playoff appearances for the Lions — in which he scored six goals and added three assists — but making 13 appearances for the United States and scoring two goals. It was during last summer’s Gold Cup<\/a> that Freeman made a considerable impression on U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino. He capped off his stellar 2025 with two goals in a 5-1 friendly win over Uruguay<\/a>.<\/p>\n Freeman, the son of former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Antonio Freeman, is taking a risk as it relates to his World Cup prospects. Unlike his position with Orlando, playing time with the LaLiga side won’t be guaranteed, and with the likes of PSV Eindhoven<\/a>‘s Sergi\u00f1o Dest<\/a>, Marseille<\/a>‘s Timothy Weah<\/a> and Borussia M\u00f6nchengladbach<\/a> Joe Scally<\/a> all getting steady playing time with their clubs, Freeman could find himself on the outside looking in when it comes to making the U.S. roster.<\/p>\n However, Freeman could also boost his stock further if he’s able to settle in quickly with Villarreal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff CarlisleJan 26, 2026, 08:47 PM ET CloseJeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-431953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}