The New York Red Bulls have Congolese international forward Silas Mvumpa on their radar, amNewYork has learned. Internal talks are in the preliminary stage, and any certainty about a potential pursuit is unknown at this time.
Mvumpa, 27, spent the 2024-25 season on loan from German Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart with Red Star Belgrade. There, he scored five goals in 16 matches while helping the Serbian club win its league title.
The attacking talent, who can play striker or winger, joined Stuttgart in 2019 and scored 28 goals in 120 appearances since then, in one of the greatest leagues on the planet.
He broke into Congo’s national side in 2023 and has made 18 appearances with them.
A naturally right-footed talent with a high work rate on both ends of the field, Mvumpa’s makeup makes him a natural target for the Red Bulls’ style of play. New York’s attacking picture is currently in flux after star forward/winger Lewis Morgan, who won the MLS Comeback Player of the Year Award last season, was limited to just three games in 2025 due to multiple injuries.
Without Morgan, the attacking onus fell on former Bayern Munich star Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who notched 17 goals in 33 league matches in his debut campaign. Following star midfielder Emil Forsberg’s 11 goals, the next leading scorer was 20-year-old Mohamed Sofo with five, and he filled in admirably for Morgan after being an afterthought throughout preseason.
The team’s clear lack of attacking verve was a significant factor in New York missing the playoffs for the first time in 16 years.
Berggren’s burgeoning role
Swedish holding midfielder Gustav Berggren was first to admit that this had been a challenging season for him.
After agreeing to terms with the Red Bulls to make the jump from the Polish side RKS Raków in early July, the signing was not made officially until the last week of the month. Visa issues then withheld him from his New York debut until Aug. 30.
Instead of bolstering the midfield for the stretch run, Berggren got just six games of run with his new club, which was not nearly enough time to assimilate to life in North America and help claw the Red Bulls out of their hole outside the playoff picture.
“One big difference from Poland was that there was more focus on the structure and the defense,” Berggren said. “There are not a lot of goals in those games. [In MLS], it’s more open with a lot of counterattacks to open the defense. It’s a bit more of an open game, which is more fun to watch, but sometimes it’s hard to play that kind of game. That’s a big difference.”
The 28-year-old will stay in the United States this offseason to ramp up to a more intensive role, which will be imperative considering a potential notable exodus elsewhere within the roster.
Fellow holding midfielder Daniel Edelman, who at 22 years old is looking to continue his rise on the American soccer scene — specifically with the national team — is garnering noticeable interest from other clubs, both in MLS and in Europe, amNewYork has learned.
Tom Bogert of The Athletic was first to report on the attention surrounding the New Jersey native.
