Sebastian Berhalter leaving Vancouver for Middlesbrough

Sebastian Berhalter, who has made his stripes in North America, both as a member of the United States men's national team (USMNT) in international play and as a ‌seven-year Major League Soccer (MLS) veteran, is set to head across the pond

Multiple reports on Thursday revealed that the Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder is in the final ​stages of being sent to Middlesbrough, an English Championship ​side. The club is set to pay in the ⁠neighborhood of USD2m in transfer fees to acquire the highly-sought-after ​player.

Multiple clubs were reportedly in pursuit of Berhalter, whose contract ​expires at the end of the calendar year.

Berhalter, 25, is the son of Gregg Berhalter, former coach of the USMNT, though the younger Berhalter ​made his own impact on the club during the most ​recent World Cup, scoring his second international goal on a rocket of ‌a ⁠shot from the corner on a give-and-go against Turkey in group play.

He paired that with an assist vs. Turkey to become the first USMNT player to achieve the goal-assist stat line ​on the World ​Cup stage ⁠in the modern era.

The MLS vet had previously played for Columbus (2020) and Austin (2021) in his ​career before joining Vancouver in 2022. This season, ​he is ⁠the team's second-leading goal-scorer, scoring six goals to go along with seven assists, the latter mark being the highest on the ⁠team.

For ​those efforts he has been named ​an All-Star, though he was held out of the Whitecaps' 4-3 loss to ​FC Cincinnati Wednesday, likely due to the acquisition negotiations.