Stacy Revere / Getty ImagesAug. 26, 2026 10:06 am EDT Updated Sporting Kansas City has signed U.S. youth international midfielder Owen Wolff from Austin FC, sources briefed on the deal have told The Athletic.Austin will receive $4.5 million up front, plus another $3.1 million in performance-based add-ons, the sources added.Wolff, 21, has missed time this season due to injury but is viewed as one of the league’s top young players. He enjoyed a breakout 2025 season, with seven goals and seven assists while appearing in all 34 regular season games.The move is a key one for a rebuilding SKC, getting a young player on a Under-22 initiative deal. It is the largest cash trade for U-22 initiative player in the brief history of the rule, sources said.
Wolff has already made 147 first team appearances in his career. He featured for the United States at the 2023 U-20 World Cup.Wolff extended his contract with Austin this winter but expressed an openness to a new challenge, sources said. When SKC’s offer reached the club’s valuation, Austin accepted the bid.Sources said this deal predates the arrival of Austin’s new sporting director Khaled El-Ahmad, as the team was continuing summer work as El-Ahmad took over officially from Minnesota this week.Wolff will be a centerpiece to SKC’s rebuild, which has seen club-record signing Andre Luiz join this week in a deal worth an initial $18 million, as first reported by The Athletic.SKC moved on from midfielder Manu Garcia to open a designated player slot and the club is looking to fill it before the summer transfer window in MLS closes on September 2.Austin FC are undergoing a rebuild of their own, with Jim Curtin taking over as head coach this winter. Austin previously traded midfielder Dani Pereira to CF Montréal for $2.1 million GAM. Further departures will come this winter when Curtin takes over and begins to reshape the roster.
