Report: Charlotte FC to sign midfielder Luca de la Torre

US SOCCER

Charlotte FC is working to sign Lucas de la Torre, a U.S. National team midfielder who spent the 2025 season on loan to San Diego FC via Celta deVigo.

Charlotte FC is poised to sign U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Luca de la Torre on a permanent transfer, according to the Athletic.

De la Torre played last season on loan from the Spanish side La Liga side Celta de Vigo in his hometown for San Diego FC during their inaugural season. That loan officially ends on Dec. 31.

In exchange for the rights to negotiate with de la Torre, San Diego FC will receive $50,000 in general allocation money from Charlotte. No specifics were given about terms of a deal between Charlotte and Celta de Vigo. The transfer window opens on Jan. 1. 

If the deal goes through, it will give the Crown another technically gifted midfielder who is more architect than finisher with a reputation as a hard worker. Primarily a central midfielder, de la Torre is known for his passing and link-up play and should work well with Wilfried Zaha and Pep Biel in orchestrating the Charlotte attack. 

Across 34 appearances with 24 starts in MLS regular season and playoff matches for SDFC, de la Torre scored five goals and added one assist. He has 32 caps and one goal for the U.S. National Team, where he started all six matches in front of Charlotte centerback Tim Ream in the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. He was with Ream on the 2022 U.S. World Cup team but did not appear in any matches.

In his words

De La Torre is a self-described team player. In an article for The Player’s Tribune last May, he wrote: “I’ve always been a pretty relaxed person. I’ll ‘go with the flow’ and not complain. In some ways that’s good as a professional athlete, because it helps you show up every day and work hard no matter how you feel. Respect authority. Do what you have to do. Those are pretty basic things that set you up for success in football. It’s a lot like how I imagine the military would be. You get told where to be, what time to be there, when to eat, what to eat, how to train, how to rest. It’s difficult for some people to live like that, but I’ve always enjoyed the routine of it.”

Born and raised in San Diego to a Spanish father and American mother, de la Torre, 27, moved to London at 15 to join the Fulham youth system. He said the desire to make the leap came from two things. First, his father decided that his son would be a professional, and second, “I was born with the right blend of athleticism, ego and willingness to do what people told me.”

Left home at 15 for England

De la Torre first received an invitation from Fulham when he was 13 and traveled there several times over the next two years before making the move. He learned a competitiveness that he couldn’t have playing club or college soccer at Stanford, his mother’s alma mater.

“I’d always been one the best players on my teams in San Diego, but the players at the Fulham academy were fighting for their lives, because to have a kid on a pro contract is a big deal financially to a lot of families in England,” de la Torre said. “Your teammate was also your rival, the guy who was going after your spot on the team. You’d say, “good morning,” but you were both thinking, ‘I’m going to crush this guy.’”

Going with the flow doesn’t mean de la Torre won’t take control of his own destiny. He did just that as he navigated the ground between the Fulham academy and first team, and moved to the Netherlands to play for Heracles Almelo in the Dutch Eredivisie. When they were relegated in his second season, he moved to Celta Vigo on the southwest coast of Spain. The move was facilitated by his dual citizenship, but he had to prove himself again in addition to learning how to speak Spanish. 

Back to MLS

De la Torre said San Diego general manager Tyler Heaps came to see him during the summer of 2024 when the USMNT were playing in Kansas City and recruited him to come play for his new hometown team. The chance to help build that side appealed to him and he made the move, on loan, during the January transfer window. 

Although de la Torre was a key player for SDFC during their debut season, things changed towards the end when they were eliminated by Vancouver in the Western Conference final. He started the first nine games before coming on as a second half substitute against Charlotte at Bank of America Stadium. He started 12 of the next 16 matches, missing four games for national team duty in before coming on at halftime the next two games. 

After four more starts, de la Torre came off the bench for 56 minutes total the last three regular season games. He didn’t start any of the five playoff matches, and subbed on in four, logging 109 minutes.

According to the MLS Players Association, de la Torre was San Diego’s fourth highest paid player with $1.6 million in guaranteed compensation. Given how San Diego’s lineup changed for the playoffs, it could be that making his loan permanent might be too expensive, even for a local hero.

As of the 2025 season, Charlotte had five players earning over $1 million in guaranteed compensation according to the MLSPA, including Wilfried Zaha ($2,751,667), Liel Abada ($2,548,500), Pep Biel ($1,540,563), Ream ($1,127,750), and Harry Toffolo ($1,020,000). 

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