Next weekend, League One will officially hit the two-thirds marker of the 2026 season. For any club hoping to make a late run, it must start now. Week 24 offered up a preview of the action to come – both in terms of the on-field landscape and the role the transfer market might play down the stretch. What should we take away from the week that was? I’m digging into all 17 League One teams to find out.
Fort Wayne and the League One talent model
Soccer is a business, one that requires clubs to make unsentimental decisions. Fort Wayne surely intended to make rookie striker Lilian Ricol a centerpiece for years ahead. Instead, Ricol was sold to San Antonio FC this week for a near-record transfer fee – which, reading between the lines, likely equates to a number in the mid five-digits.
The transfer is a signifier of the progress that League One has made – in large part thanks to standard-raising expansion clubs like Fort Wayne.
Under sporting director Oliver Gage and manager Mike Avery, Fort Wayne built an expansion roster that mixed League Two holdovers with MLS Next Pro stalwarts, USL vets, and a handful of statistical darlings from the college ranks. The vision behind a pressureful, technically able squad was clear from the start, and it powered Fort Wayne to a 10-game league unbeaten run between May and July.
Ironically, winning in League One has become a dangerous thing; the better you are and the better the talent you scout, the likelier it gets that suitors will come calling. Success is a double-edged sword, but if the transfer fees keep flowing, that’s a good problem to have.
Ricol is yet another example of the tightening bond between League One and the Championship, yet the fact that a rookie made the jump so quickly is novel in its own right. Typically, players like Luis Alvarez (sold from Charlotte to Tampa Bay, then loaned back) have needed a few seasons of success under their belt. Karsen Henderlong, a Ricol-esque striker, had end-of-bench experience in the Championship that made him a more obvious target once he broke out during his lone season in Naples.
