Louisville City 2025 Offseason Update

Although Louisville City’s 2024 campaign cemented them as one of the league's best teams of all time, they fell short of their ultimate goal. The Players’ Shield winners were surprisingly the first LouCity team to fail to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. All it takes is one bad match in the playoffs and your season is done. The boys of purple were reminded of that harsh reality. However, the championship potential was obvious. Since the end of the season, Coach Danny Cruz and his staff have been hard at work to put together a team that would build upon the previous season's success. The initial roster announcements saw the majority of the team officially returning. While most of the “question marks” from that initial list ended up re-signing (McCabe, Ownby, etc.), there have since been some unexpected departures along with a handful of new faces added.

Departures

Wilson Harris

The Wilson Harris transfer saga was a strange, albeit short, one. On 01/07/2025, Manuel Veth of TransfMarkt.us reported that Israeli first-division team Maccabi Petah Tikva announced the signing of Harris. They even posted pictures of Wilson Harris wearing the club's scarf alongside club officials. However, they had yet to even reach out to Louisville City. By 01/10/2025, the deal officially got done. It was always a possibility that top performers at one of the USL's best clubs would get poached, but I don’t think anyone expected it to happen the way that it did. Regardless, Harris gets his opportunity to advance his career overseas and LouCity pockets some profit and adds to their list of recent exports. With Wilson Harris out of the picture, the 2024 mid-season signing of Phillip Goodrum looks that much more important.

Elijah Wynder

Harris was not the only player on the 2024 squad to catch the attention of a club outside of the USL. The first academy product, Elijah Wynder, secured himself a deal to join the LA Galaxy. It was the largest fee in USL Championship history for a player going to the MLS. This was a much-deserved move as last season was a huge leap forward in performance. It was all the more special to watch when recalling the devastating injury he endured a few years back. Now he is getting his big moment to climb the ladder in the greater ecosystem, much like his brother did.

Wes Charpie

Wes Charpie was never on my radar to be leaving the club, but I guess that’s why they call the offseason “silly season”. Anything can happen at any time. Back in 2021, Kaleigh Riehl was a member of Racing Louisville's inaugural squad. But the expansion draft before the 2022 season saw her depart for San Diego. During her time in Louisville, Wes and Kaleigh became an item, and they have remained together despite the distance. Charpie has decided to leave the team and continue his life with Kaleigh in Utah (where she now plays for the Royals). When you’ve worked hard all your life to realize a dream of playing professional soccer, it has to be hard to step away. But there is more to life than a game. He has always been a class act and I wish nothing but the best for Wes and Kaleigh.

Between the previously announced departures and those that have happened over the previous month, several opportunities with the roster had become apparent. Thankfully, the staff was already hard at work finding players to fill out the team and help build upon last season's success.

Arrivals

Zach Duncan

Midfielder Zach Duncan (Insta) has joined LouCity to help fill a Wynder-sized hole in the roster. The 24-year-old Aussie spent time in the A-League as well as the Danish Superliga before playing with the now-defunct Memphis 901 last season. In nearly 3,000 minutes, he only took 27 shots (3 on target) with one goal to his name so he may not be a perfect 1:1 match with Elijah’s profile. Don’t let those numbers get you down. FotMob has him with MEM’s 5th highest player rating and in the 93rd percentile for defensive action. Expect a more defensively responsible box-to-box central midfielder. Should he take on that profile with LouCity, it could give Taylor Davila a little more opportunity to flex his shooting prowess. With that said, he may be asked to take on a different role. It will be interesting to see his first match or two and how he is leveraged.

Kevon Lambert

An additional option for Coach Crz in the midfield is the Jamaican international, Kevon Lambert (Twitter, Insta). His early career was in Jamaica, but his professional breakthrough was with Phoenix Rising from 2017 to 2023. He made 161 appearances with PHX and scored 15 goals before transferring to Real Salt Lake. After only a few appearances with RSL, he spent the 2024 season with San Antonio, where he made 23 appearances and scored three times. At 27 years old, he will bring a good blend of experience while still being in his prime. At 6’2”, it’s not too shocking to see him in the 100th percentile on FotMob along with the 99th percentile for defensive actions. Lambert’s and Duncan’s profiles differ just enough that I could see them both getting good minutes. But based on those two signings, it seems like the team could be looking to improve upon their defensive performances from last season.

Josh Jones

I had previously written about Josh Jones shortly after Wes’ departure. I’d expect Arturo Ordonez, Sean Totsch, and Kyle Adams to remain the CB core (assuming the back three is still the go-to) but there will still be plenty of minutes throughout the campaign for the rookie. Outside of the positional need and securing a young talent, I do appreciate his existing ties to the city. Hometown guys (using that phrasing liberally) are always fun to have on the roster.

Damian Las

When a player comes in on loan, I generally assume it to be a one-year stay, barring a transfer clause in the loan agreement. So when Damian Las joined last year (without any such option to buy), I was anticipating a new face between the sticks in 2025. That may not be the case, as Austin FC has allowed him to run it back with Coach Cruz and the gang. I’ve heard mixed opinions from fans on his performance, with most citing his tendency to come off his line, but clearly Coach Cruz and GK coach Scott Budnick like what they saw from the promising prospect. Being one year wiser and having experience with the majority of the squad and the league, I’m optimistic that this season will see a step up in his game.

As of this writing, Louisville is amid preseason training and just about a month out from their first regular season match. The boys in purple will be refining their tactical approach and working on ramping up on-field chemistry before points are on the line. For those who were part of the previous year’s team, there will be a hunger to right the wrongs of their disappointing playoff exit. John Morrissey of USL Tactics fame suggests that they could be even better this year. We’ll have to wait until March to get our first glimpse at the latest version of Louisville City.