Will Agyemang return to Charlotte FC?
Newly-named MLS All-Star striker is starting for U.S. team while also drawing interest from English clubs; Biel on verge of extension, Kahlina talks about benching, advancing Chicago Fire and more
It’s time for Fútbol Friday, The Charlotte Ledger’s weekly newsletter getting you up to speed on Charlotte FC.
➡️ Need to sign up for Fútbol Friday and other Charlotte-focused email newsletters from The Charlotte Ledger? You can do that here.
➡️ Ledger subscribers can add or drop individual newsletters on their “My Account” page.
You could sponsor this email newsletter and reach 8,300+ engaged Charlotte soccer fans. Find out more.
The future for Patrick Agyemang is up in the air, as the Charlotte FC striker keeps scoring U.S. goals — picked for MLS All-Star team
Patrick Agyemang celebrates scoring the game-winning goal for the U.S. in a 2-1 victory over Haiti in the final game of group play in the Concacaf Gold Cup. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Men’s National team.)
When Patrick Agyemang left Charlotte FC last month for another call-up to the U.S. Men’s National team, it felt like goodbye for now. Now, it’s hard to know.
Multiple reports indicated this week that offers are circling from English Championship clubs, as well as the Belgium club Genk, for Charlotte’s 24-year-old striker. Italian soccer guru Fabrizio Romano reports Derby County is making a big push for Agyemang. Tom Bogert of GiveMeSport.com added Ipswich Town to that list.
Charlotte coach Dean Smith had this to say when the Ledger asked about Agyemang this week:
We’re not in a position as a club where we need to sell anybody, especially if it’s going to weaken our team. But not every player will have a value [on the international market] as well. We spoke to Patrick and his representatives to try and sign a longer deal with this club on better wages, but they turned that down. We’ll see where we go with it. But as I’ve always said, he’s our player for another 18 months, and unless there’s a deal that’s right for this football club, then Patrick is our player, and we enjoy having him here.
Push and pull are nothing new to the 6-foot-4 striker with the physical presence that’s been noted throughout MLS and now on the international football scene. He’s scored five goals in his first nine games with the U.S. Men’s National team, the sixth-fastest to do that, and coach Mauricio Pochettino can’t stop putting him in the starting lineup. [Next up is a quarterfinal Gold Cup match Sunday at 7 p.m. vs. Costa Rica.] With the FIFA World Cup a year away, Agyemang has a legitimate shot to be on that U.S. squad.
And oh yeah, Agyemang was named to the MLS All-Star team this week. He’s the first Charlotte FC player to make it. Agyemang was chosen by commissioner Don Garber and will be among the MLS All-Stars taking on Liga MX All-Stars on July 23 in Austin, Texas. [Check out the wholesome content when Agyemang’s family delivered the news over a surprise Zoom call. P.S. We see where Pat gets his megawatt smile.]
Agyemang, who rose from the ranks of Division III through MLS Next Pro to the everyday starter under Smith last season, has been in limbo on the contract front for a while. While a host of his Charlotte FC teammates signed extensions last season, Agyemang continued to make the minimum. This season, the minimum salary for players on MLS senior rosters rose from $71,400 to $104,000.
Agyemang is clearly playing above his pay grade and has a big payday coming. [Agyemang leads Charlotte FC with six goals and one assist in 16 MLS games, plus two goals in two U.S. Open Cup games.] On the other hand, Charlotte FC doesn’t have to get out over its skis, either. They have a club option for Agyemang for 2026. Numbers, and how big they get, will ultimately bear this out.
The only figure reported thus far is the $4 million offer Bogert reported Charlotte FC turned down last winter from Luton Town. If they do decide to sell him, Charlotte has some flexibility with an open designated player spot to use on another striker in the summer transfer window or next winter.
Agyemang has made no secret of wanting to take that next step to European soccer. While the Championship is the second-tier in English professional soccer, he would be putting himself right under the noses of the top leagues in Europe.
On the other hand, as Sporting News’ veteran writer Mike DeCourcy pointed out, making the jump to a new league in a new country this late might jeopardize his chances for the World Cup.
Biel poised to sign extension
Charlotte FC is preparing to extend the contract of attacking midfielder Pep Biel, who is on loan until Aug. 1. Smith confirmed the talks on Monday, when he said, “There’s discussions being had now to try and get that tied up,” he said.
Biel arrived in Charlotte at the end of last year’s summer window, a last-hour addition who had nine games to prove his mettle. Both sides liked what they saw, so Charlotte extended him over the winter and is poised to do the same now.
“[He’s] another player we enjoy having about,” Smith said. “His numbers are really good this season. He likes being here. He wants to be here.”
The 28-year-old Spaniard, who played previously in Copehagen, Denmark, and for Greek club Olympiacos, is leading Charlotte in goal contributions this season with 12 (five goals and seven assists).
As was the case over the winter, Biel will re-up without rising to the level of designated player status, a detail that was first reported by Bogert. That leaves Charlotte flexibility to add another significant piece to its attack.
Biel is set to make $1.3 million this season, according to 2025 base salaries released by the MLS Players Association this week.
Kahlina on struggles leading to two-game respite: ‘I probably lost a little bit of focus’
Kahlina, pictured here against San Jose in March, said he understood reasoning for Smith giving him two-game “mental break.” (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
In four years as Charlotte FC’s No. 1 goalkeeper, Kristijan Kahlina has built a reputation for being a standup guy, with the fans, media and teammates. So it’s probably no surprise that he took being pulled from the lineup for games in Toronto and Philadelphia like a man.
Kahlina, the defending MLS goalkeeper of the year, had allowed 19 goals in six games in a busy month of May. It was the first time he’d ever sat for reasons that weren’t health related, at least the physical kind. Smith called it a mental break, and Kahlina acknowledged to The Ledger this week that he needed one after the birth of his second child.
It turns out the “Croatian Wall” is human after all.
”I didn’t recognize the effect it had on me,” said Kahlina, who admits to being short on energy. “I lost probably a little bit of focus.”
Kahlina’s wife went into labor with their son Niko the day they were scheduled to move from the uptown Vue to a more spacious apartment in Cotswold, where his parents could live until October and help care for Niko and their 3-year-old daughter, Kiara.
After Kahlina traveled to play games in Nashville and Orlando on May 10 and 14, Niko went into the hospital on Friday, May 16. Niko was born at 6 p.m. Kahlina stayed a couple of hours then went home to sleep. He gave up four goals in a loss to the Chicago Fire the following day. Two games and 10 days later, the New York Red Bulls posted another four-goal game on Kahlina. Smith called him in prior to the game in Toronto.
“He said ‘You need a little bit of time for your family and just to train and relax your mind,’” Kahlina said. “I was completely OK with that. When the game [time] came, I was nervous, and I wanted to play, but from another point, it was a good time for me to show myself and get my form back.”
Kahlina took a shot to the face against Columbus on May 3 but said it hasn’t had any bearing on his recent struggles. To that point in the season, he had allowed only eight goals in 10 games.
“My concentration was not 100% from that moment [getting hit] for the next 20 minutes, but [by] the second half everything was fine,” Kahlina said.
He said he’s benefited from time off recently — Charlotte played just one game in the first three weeks of June — and gotten into a rhythm at home. Nikolina and his mother take care of Niko through the night and most of the daytime, while he focuses on Kiara. For the eight or nine days the team was off, while many of his teammates traveled for a vacation, he stayed home.
“Sometimes you can plan for everything,” he said. “But life gives you something completely different.”
Notable: Club World Cup crowds, Joe LaBue returns to alma mater, Tavares on way out, Berchimas back
Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham celebrated a goal with Bank of America crowd. (Photo courtesy of FIFA World Cup X account.)
FIFA Club World Cup: While attendance figures were hit or miss for the opening week of the FIFA Club World Cup, fans packed Bank of America Stadium for Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Pachuca Sunday. The 70,248 in attendance was the second-highest in the 2025 Club World Cup so far behind 80,619 who went to the Rose Bowl in L.A. for Paris Saint-Germain vs. Atletico Madrid. Another 33,287 showed up Tuesday to see Benfica defeat Bayern Munich 1-0 at The Bank.
The 3 p.m. kickoffs allowed TV viewers in Europe to watch in primetime but left players and fans in sweltering high-90s heat, bad even by Charlotte standards. More afternoon games are in store when Charlotte hosts two games in the Round of 16: Benfica vs. Chelsea Saturday at 4 p.m. and Inter Milan vs. Fluminense Monday at 3 p.m.
Outgoing Former Charlotte FC president Joe LaBue, who was one of the first Tepper Sports & Entertainment employees to help build Charlotte FC from scratch, has taken a position at his alma mater, the University of Maryland, where he will serve as deputy athletic director and chief revenue officer. “Excited doesn’t quite capture it,” LaBue wrote on his X feed. “… Cannot wait to be back at the university that means everything to me and my family.” LaBue was let go in a front office reorganization in December.
Reserve forward Iuri Tavares is reportedly bound for Croatian club Varaždin on a free transfer. Tavares has played just 21 minutes in five games for Charlotte this season.
Winger Nimfasha Berchimas, 17, returned to action for Crown Legacy FC last Friday against Huntsville after missing three months with a broken foot. He underwent surgery March 6.
Up Next: Charlotte FC (8-10-1) at Chicago (7-7-4)
When/Where: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Soldier Field, Chicago
How to watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Find information about how to subscribe for the season here.
How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.
Notable:
Charlotte has gone 2-8 over its past 10 games, eight of which have been on the road, to plummet from first to ninth place in the Eastern Conference. A loss in Chicago would drop the Crown below the playoff line.
Charlotte gave up two goals in stoppage time to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in a 2-1 loss in Kansas City on Wednesday. This is after Charlotte gave up extra time goals in both the first and second halves of a 2-1 loss in Philadelphia. That’s five stoppage time goals allowed in the past four games, dating back to a penalty in the 97th minute by the New York Red Bulls.
Left back Nathan Byrne, who underwent surgery to repair two discs in his neck on April 28, has begun some light running in training. Charlotte is hopeful he can return by Leagues Cup in late July or early August.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fourth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
—
Need to sign up for this e-newsletter? We offer a free version, as well as paid memberships for full access to all 6 of our local newsletters:
The Charlotte Ledger is a locally owned media company that delivers smart and essential news. We strive for fairness and accuracy and will correct all known errors. The content reflects the independent editorial judgment of The Charlotte Ledger. Any advertising, paid marketing or sponsored content will be clearly labeled.
◼️ About The Ledger • Our Team • Website
◼️ Newsletters • Podcast • Newcomer Guide • A Better You email series
◼️ Subscribe • Sponsor • Events Board • Merch Store • Manage Your Account
◼️ Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, LinkedIn