Kenny Cooper to Red Bulls

by Matt Coyne on Jan 12, 2026 1:20 PM EST in Club News

If you thought the one position the Red Bulls wouldn't acquire a player was at forward, you'd be wrong.

For A 2013 first round pick and a whole lot of allocation money, the Red Bulls picked up the rather large striker from the Portland Timbers in a move first reported by Fox Sports and just confirmed by the Red Bulls.

Some speculate that this means we're nearing the end of the Juan Agudelo era in New York, ever since it came out that Liverpool asked the Bulls FO what it would cost to put him in red.

The 27-year-old scored 8 goals in 34 appearances last season. Before heading to 2 Bundesliga side 1860 Munich in 2009, he had an impressive MLS stint with FC Dallas.

The move shouldn't come as a tremendous surprise, though. Yesterday on a conference call GM Erik Soler said the team wasn't looking for help in the draft.

UPDATE: Initially Ives Galarcep was reporting the consensus was that the Red Bulls got fleeced, but apparently, Portland only gets the allocation money if Cooper sticks around for a second year with the team.

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Read More: 2012 superdraft, Kenny Cooper (F - New York Red Bulls), Liverpool, New York Red Bulls, FC Dallas, Portland Timbers

Comments

Well.

This move certainly caught me by surprise.
I hope for Agudelo’s sake, and as a USMNT fan, he plays even if that means he leaves the club. But even if that happens, if all of Cooper and Henry and Rodgers are healthy and at the club (I don’t think Henry is going to extend his loan to the end of the English season) do you play Henry deep with Cooper as a traditional center forward and keep Rodgers as a super sub 60-70 minutes in? Last year i’d like to see Henry coming in from an advanced position on the left wing, that could happen if we moved Lindpere in centrally in a 4-3-3.
But this still doesn’t address our lack of a central playmaker. When he wants to, Marquez can send a few good balls in from deep but doesn’t join the rush going forward and isn’t a great tackler of the ball. This roster clearly isn’t finished, but I really want to sign a capable central midfielder before cover for left back.

by coys_from_wny on Jan 12, 2026 4:14 PM EST reply actions