Why is CanMNT star Stephen Eustáquio joining LAFC in a World Cup year?

With playing time hard to come by at FC Porto, Stephen Eustáquio has made a surprising move, as the CanMNT midfielder is heading to MLS to help him rediscover his form in a World Cup year. 

Instead of ending up at a Canadian club, though, Eustáquio is heading to Hollywood, as he’ll link up with Heung Min Son, Dénis Bouanga and a host of his Canadian Men’s National Team teammates at LAFC, joining the club on a loan through June of this year with a purchase option. 

Stephen Eustáquio is Black & Gold.

📝 #LAFC acquires midfielder Stephen Eustáquio on loan from Portuguese club FC Porto through June 2026 with option to purchase.

➡️ https://t.co/EFYeOBdCFS pic.twitter.com/2ZrnjwBAtj

— LAFC (@LAFC) February 6, 2026

Naturally, this is a move that makes a lot of sense for Eustáquio, too, as he joins one of the best teams in MLS, adding some serious quality to an already strong LA midfield. For someone leaving a Portuguese giant in Porto, one with which he won seven trophies in five seasons, he’ll be able to bring a winning mentality to a team with similar ambitions, having won one MLS Cup, two Supporters’ Shields and one US Open Cup since their launch in 2018. 

Of course, though, you can’t help but wonder if he still has some unfinished business to attend to in Europe, as it felt like Eustáquio could’ve tested himself at a club in the top five leagues after spending the last half-decade in Portugal (he was recently linked to La Liga side Celta Vigo), but there are reasons why this LAFC move isn’t that surprising to see occur for him.

Namely, there’s the fact that Eustáquio is already 29 years old, putting him at the prime age for a move like this. Had he still been in his mid-20s, it would’ve been easier to push for him to stay in Europe and further develop his game, but at this stage of his career, there is less of a pressing need for him to do that right now. 

Had there been the right opportunity for him to stay in Europe, you’d absolutely have wanted him to consider it - he is one of Canada’s best players, after all - but it’s not a be-all, end-all scenario for him, per se, especially considering the extenuating circumstances of it being a World Cup year. 

Stephen Eustáquio is an LAFC player✍️

So why did the #CanMNT midfielder move to MLS despite top-five league interest?🤔

As he told Kristian Jack this week, it's simple - a need for minutes and a chance to win trophies🏆

🗣️“(He) understood he needed to do this for his country” pic.twitter.com/kwSFn5WjCx

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) February 6, 2026

At his age, it’s all about maintaining form and earning regular minutes to keep him at a good level, as we know what Eustáquio is as a player. No matter what happens over the next six months, there’s no doubt that he’ll start games for Canada at the World Cup, so it’s not as if this transfer to LAFC is hurting his stock on the CanMNT. 

Ultimately, he just needed to play more games in the short term after not playing much for Porto so far this season, and he’ll get the minutes he needs in LA. 

To further understand why Eustáquio will have made this move, however, look at the difference between two players who have recently faced a similar crossroads as Eustáquio in recent years - his CanMNT teammates, Richie Laryea and Cyle Larin. 

All are a similar age, with Larin 30 and Laryea 31, but both have taken wildly different approaches to their club careers as of late. 

With Larin, he’s had to gamble a bit more with his club situation, as he’s slowly slipped down Canada’s depth chart due to his declining form and minutes for club and country, which is why he recently made a move to join Championship side Southampton, instead of heading to MLS, as some wondered if he might do. A high-risk, high-reward move for Larin, he’ll hope that he can catch form in England, as that’ll be what he needs to do to win a spot at the World Cup for Canada. 

As for someone like Laryea, though, he’s stayed at Toronto FC, even though he’s proven to be capable of perhaps playing at a higher level. Having had a bad experience when he went to Europe to join Nottingham Forest in 2022, he opted for stability at the club level, but that hasn’t cost him a spot in the CanMNT, as he’s been consistent in his performances for club and country, and has earned regular minutes when healthy. 

When looking at both cases in isolation, you can see the difference each has had in terms of form - Larin’s has varied a bit more over the last few seasons, whereas Laryea’s has been much more stable - and that form has forced Larin to gamble a bit more with his recent club moves than Laryea. 

Yet, that’s the sort of thing that someone in Eustáquio’s position will have had to consider when seeking out a new club - will a new destination offer the sort of stability required, especially for a player of his calibre?

Unfortunately, he had lost that stability at Porto, where he’s so far only played 581 minutes across all competitions in 2025-2026, after typically averaging upwards of 2000 minutes in each of his past seasons at the club. 

Now, though, at LAFC, he should find those minutes, and that’s great news for him, as he should still thrive in that opportunity, because he’s not leaving Porto due to a lack of quality. With a logjam of young midfielders currently at the club, the club had prioritized giving them minutes instead of Eustáquio as they underwent a bit of a rebuilding year, and that patience has quickly paid off, as Porto is having a resurgent campaign. 

While Eustáquio clearly loves Porto and will have wanted to stay, he’ll have understood that his role in the squad right now is a rotation player, which isn’t what he needed in a World Cup year.

To pivot from Porto back to LAFC, however, that leads to the important question that must be asked with this Eustáquio move - where will he fit in at his new club, and is this the right fit for him? 

First, to try to answer the latter, the answer is simple - yes. In terms of quality, MLS isn’t a huge step down in level for Eustáquio, as the league is currently ranked the 11th strongest in the world by OPTA, and the Portuguese league eighth. 

Of course, leaving Porto to join LAFC is a bit of a step down, as the club is ranked 32nd by OPTA, but LAFC is no significant downgrade, as they’re ranked 86th - right in the middle of several midtable clubs in the top five leagues and some bigger clubs from smaller leagues. 

What that shows, though, is why more players are joining MLS while in their mid to late 20s, especially to play for clubs like LAFC and Inter Miami  - the league is more competitive than ever, and is still growing each year, headlined by the growth of clubs like this. It must be remembered that LAFC are less than a year removed from putting in competitive performances at the revamped Club World Cup, after all, which is something that people will have picked up on. 

To return to the original questions, however, that then leads to the other query Eustáquio will have asked when making this move - where does he fit in on this LAFC side?

THE BREAKDOWN✖️⭕️
✍️@AlexGangueRuzic

The #CanMNT have a fierce battle brewing in midfield, but who should be paired with Stephen Eustáquio next summer?

Here's a look at what makes the ideal Jesse Marsch midfielder - and who fits that mould on Canada

👉https://t.co/ND70dGhUy3 pic.twitter.com/IWmxEiLLDt

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 23, 2025

And the answer there is also quite simple - quite seamless. He joins LAFC at an interesting time, as the club will have a new manager this season in Marc Dos Santos, the longtime assistant coach of LA’s outgoing manager, Steve Cherundolo, who had spent four seasons at the club. Given Dos Santos’s struggles at his last job, which came with the Vancouver Whitecaps from 2019 to 2021, there are some concerns about how the Montréal-born manager might handle his second full-time MLS head coaching gig. 

At the same time, given Dos Santos’s familiarity with the club, it’s expected that they’re able to maintain the level they had hit under Cherundolo. Plus, it’s not necessarily fair to compare his time with the Whitecaps, who were making significant changes on and off the pitch en route to becoming the team they are today, to this version of LAFC, who are one of the heavyweights of MLS and have the roster to match. 

Certainly, the presence of stars like Heung-Min Son and Dénis Bouanga reflects that, and now, in Eustáquio, Dos Santos has another crucial piece to rely on - and you have to imagine both end up forming an excellent partnership, given that both are Canadians with Portuguese background, which probably helped Dos Santos sell Eustáquio on this move. 

Therefore, while Eustáquio joins a team that is pretty strong in midfield, it’s expected that he plays a big role, no matter how his team sets up. Able to play in both a double-pivot and three-man midfield, he’ll be fine no matter if Dos Santos sticks with the 3-4-3 Cherundolo used at the end of last year, or switches to the 4-3-3 that he’s more known for using. 

From a Canadian perspective, though, you’ll be rooting for Dos Santos to do the latter. With the arrival of CanMNT midfielder Mathieu Choinière and winger Jacob Shaffelburg over the last 12 months, that 4-3-3 formation is the likeliest path towards a world where both are starting games alongside Eustáquio. 

Not bad, eh? 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/CdK4RHUdMi

— LAFC (@LAFC) February 6, 2026

To return to Eustáquio, however, what will he bring to LA’s midfield? Namely, his two best skills are his ability to control the tempo on the ball and his tireless work rate out of possession, but he’s shown to be able to be flexible in a variety of different roles, as he’s capable of doing just about anything you ask of him in midfield. 

For example, in 2022-2023, he showed that he can be an excellent box-crashing, all-action midfielder, as he had seven goals and six assists in all competitions - his next best season at Porto in terms of goal contributions was a three-goal, three-assist 2023-2024 campaign. 

Commanding the pitch 🇨🇦

Welcome to Los Angeles, Stephen Eustáquio. pic.twitter.com/pekiixo5Z7

— LAFC (@LAFC) February 6, 2026

At the same time, he’s also filled a multitude of other different roles for Porto, such as a tempo-setting defensive midfielder and even a centre back, showing his tactical versatility, one that is comfortable on both sides of the ball.

Here's Eustáquio's stats with Porto last year. As seen above, despite playing a multitude of roles, he had some great ball progression and defensive stats, showing that he remains a good "destroy and progress" midfielder capable of doing good things on both sides of the ball (WyScout)

Because of that, it’ll be fascinating to see how Dos Santos deploys him. At Porto this season, in the rare minutes he’s played, he’s usually been one of the box-to-box midfielders in Francesco Farioli’s 4-3-3, but by comparison, with the CanMNT, Eustáquio has usually been the more conservative player in a double-pivot alongside Ismaël Koné in Jesse Marsch’s 4-2-2-2 system (although he still presses a lot, as is expected of him). 

At LAFC, they’ve got a lot of depth in midfield now, as Eustáquio joins a group that includes Choinière, Timothy Tillman, Mark Delgado and Igor Jesus - although Jesus is currently out as he recovers from a long-term knee injury. 

With Jesus being the lone true defensive midfielder out of that group, it indicates that the likeliest outcome will be that Eustáquio will slot in as a #6 to start, leaving Choinière, Delgado and Tillman to battle it out for minutes as #8s - presuming Dos Santos plays with a 4-3-3. 

If he does play with the 3-4-3, however, that could be good news for Choinière, who would be a natural fit alongside Eustáquio, given that he’s usually Marsch’s preferred option to replace Eustáquio in his 4-2-2-2 when he’s unavailable. When deployed together, they do well to cover ground and press high up the pitch, as they’ve done in a couple of games for Canada, showing that pairing them together could allow LAFC to be aggressive in games.

Here's Eustáquio's numbers from his remarkable 2022-2023 season, showing that he can be absolutely elite offensively (while still being a good defender), if needed. Perhaps, LAFC finds him a role that allows him to better use his ball progression, while generating this sort of offensive output (and, of course, maintaing his strong defensive level) (WyScout)

In a midfield trio, however, Tillman and Delgado offer different skills, as Tillman is more of a box-crashing midfielder, while Delgado likes to get on the ball and control the game, which are skills that would fit nicely in a trio alongside Eustáquio - although Choinière’s energy would also be seen as quite valuable. 

Then, of course, long-term, things could change with Jesus’s return, which could push Eustáquio to play higher up the pitch, although that could come at a bit of a cost for Choinière, who would probably lose some minutes. 

STEPHEN EUSTAQUIO SCORES THE GO-AHEAD GOAL 🇨🇦

📺 Watch the #UCL on DAZN pic.twitter.com/9wJTTlz2ls

— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) October 25, 2023

At the same time, it’s worth noting that LAFC is likely to play a lot of games this year, as they’re expected to make a run in both the Concacaf Champions Cup and Leagues Cup, as well as in the MLS Cup playoffs, so there will be a lot of minutes to go around for this midfield group, no matter what happens with Jesus and Eustáquio (since his loan technically does expire in the summer, although you have to imagine LAFC triggers his purchase option). 

Certainly, though, when looking at Eustáquio’s arrival, it’s evident that he’ll be the key piece in this midfield, even if it remains to be seen what his long-term position will be once Jesus is healthy.

Here's Eustáquio's heatmap from last year, showing that he played everywhere across the midfield, and even at the back, for Porto in 2024-2025 (WyScout)

Yet, to tie things altogether, it shows the last reason why this move makes sense for Eustáquio. Even if he had made a move to a bigger club in a top-five league, he might’ve struggled to find a big role like this, especially when making a transfer in the January window. 

Plus, even if he’d found such a role, he’d have a lot of catching up to do when joining his new clubs, given the lack of minutes he had at Porto, which might’ve affected his form and made it harder to keep a spot long-term. 

At LAFC, though, he gets to join a team where he’ll be a star and a regular starter, and he does so at a perfect time, as they’re just starting preseason, which will allow him to find his feet and get his rhythm back before the start of the season. 

Otherwise, it’s worth noting that had he stayed in Europe, his season might’ve been done by May - by going to MLS, he’ll now get to play right up until the start of the World Cup, allowing him to enter that tournament as sharp as possible, which is another key detail. 

That’s great news for Marsch and the CanMNT, because there’s no doubt that Eustáquio is still one of the most important players on this team - certainly, he’s probably top three in that category - showing why they’ll be pleased to see him make this move. 

While he continued to play well for Canada, no matter his club situation at Porto, it would make a world of difference for him to be fit and back to his best at the club level by the time the World Cup rolls around, which will allow him to take on the sort of load that Canada will bestow on him in that tournament, given his importance to this team. 

After not being able to play as big a role at the 2022 World Cup as hoped due to an injury sustained early in the competition, Eustáquio also has some unfinished business to attend to at this summer’s World Cup, too, which is probably another key motivating factor behind this LA move. 

Because of that, look for him to hit the ground running with LAFC, and then translate that into some strong play for Canada, who will be looking for him to put in some big performances in their midfield at the World Cup this summer. 

Who knows? Maybe Eustáquio will do so well during this move that it even opens up the door for him to try and move back to Europe this summer, but no matter if he ends up in a club in the top five leagues or ends up at LAFC long-term, the big key for him long-term will be to continue to keep earning consistent minutes going forward. 

At this stage of his career, he knows the sort of role he can play, for both club and country, and it'll be important for him to find the right opportunity week-in and week-out if he's to maintain a spot with the CanMNT long-term, even as he enters his 30s.