There is a TikTok video from July 2020 that has recently been doing the rounds on social media. It had gone six years in the depths of a random TikTok account before suddenly, in the space of a fortnight, becoming one of English football’s most shared clips.

In it, two Columbus Crew teenagers are dancing to a remixed version of Taylor Swift’s Love Story during a pandemic lockdown. One of them drops to one knee, exactly the kind of content I never knew I needed. What nobody watching it in 2020 could have predicted is that both dancers would end up at the same English Championship club six years later, and that the club would respond to the video resurfacing by signing a third American to join them.

The dancers are Aidan Morris and Sebastian Berhalter. The third American? Max Arfsten. Welcome to the summer of 2026 at Middlesbrough, where their manager, Kim Hellberg, appears to be building either one of the Championship’s most ambitious promotion squads or the most elaborate Taylor Swift tribute act in the history of professional football. Possibly both.

We’ve got to start with Aidan Morris, the longest-serving United States international at Middlesbrough, moving now into his third season since joining in 2024. He was already a two-time MLS Cup winner with Columbus Crew, and had been the youngest player in league history to start an MLS Cup final. He was twenty-two years old and joining the Championship on his first move to Europe.

Safe to say the move has been vindicated. Morris made thirty-five appearances in his first season, Middlesbrough finishing tenth. He has totalled more than 70 championship appearances for them now, remaining a reliable starter throughout. When he did suffer an ankle injury last season, Middlesbrough’s form dipped noticeably. When he returned, they went on a run that had them right up there in the fight for automatic promotion.

He ended the season having played forty-one times, a career high, and was then forced to endure the heartbreak of losing a playoff final in the ninety-fifth minute. He was then incredibly unfortunate not to make the final squad for the USMNT, a decision that was certainly debated at the time. Regardless, it’s not hard to understand why Aidan would have a point to prove going into the new season.

Now, let’s look at Middlesbrough’s new creative star; Sebastian Berhalter.

Middlesbrough wanted him. Several clubs wanted him. His Vancouver Whitecaps contract was expiring. Boro needed an edge, and their edge was the man already in the building.

Knowing each other since they were fifteen years old, Berhalter and Morris have grown up together through academy football, Columbus Crew, and the United States setup.

When Middlesbrough came calling, Berhalter admitted he already knew plenty about the club because he’d spent the last two years watching Morris from the other side of the Atlantic. It doesn’t seem like it was a hard sell.”I kind of fell in love with the club,” he said after signing. “The way they play, the way they fight… it’s been fun to watch.”

That’s how you endear yourself to the fans. The transfer was confirmed at around two million dollars, significantly below Berhalter’s valuation, but with his contract expiring at the end of the year Vancouver took what they could get. Middlesbrough got their man.

Berhalter is twenty-five years old, and the son of former USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, a two-time MLS All-Star. Even with his father’s legacy, Sebastian is quickly building his own, and is clearly hoping to entwine it with Middlesbrough this season.

If worst comes to worst, I’m sure there’s still a career as a Taylor Swift backup dancer on the cards, even if the video was just “fun” as he’s now claiming. I see the potential, and clearly so did hundreds of thousands of others.

If the Morris and Berhalter reunion was the heartwarming chapter, Max Arfsten is the plot twist. Tom Bogert of the Athletic initially broke the news of the transfer, and correctly noted that this wasn’t the first time Boro had bid for Arfsten. The club had been one of many suitors the previous summer looking to prize him away from Columbus, and when that was unsuccessful I’m sure many involved assumed the move just wasn’t to be. How wrong they were.

At twenty-five, Arfsten is a versatile flank player capable of operating as a winger, wing-back, or fullback on either side, although particularly on the left. He is a Columbus Crew academy graduate, USMNT international, and another former Crew teammate of Morris and Berhalter. He also becomes the most expensive of the trio.

He had four goals and four assists in fifteen MLS appearances before the World Cup pause, was named to the MLS All-Star Game for the second consecutive year, and earned his twenty-first USMNT cap off the bench in the round of sixteen loss to Belgium. Toulouse had made a bid. Multiple clubs were circling. Middlesbrough had Morris and Berhalter already in place, and that, apparently, was enough.

“My whole journey, it feels like ups and downs and going through a lot of hurdles,” Arfsten said in January when asked about his European ambitions. “All of this is new to me.” Two goals he set for himself in 2026: make the World Cup, get to Europe. Both boxes are now checked.

You can’t really talk about Middlesbrough’s squad without mentioning Riley McGree, even if he’s Australian rather than American. Yes, I will admit the Charlotte connection is a bit dodgy. You can be forgiven for forgetting McGree’s Charlotte career, largely because he never actually played a competitive minute for them.I’ve got to force the Aussies in wherever I can.

Mcgree went straight on loan to Birmingham City from Charlotte after joining, and virtually immediately after the loan he was signed by Middlesbrough. Up to then he was technically still a Charlotte player.

McGree’s season ended in the cruellest way imaginable. A hamstring injury in the play-off final not only ended his afternoon, but ultimately cost him a place at the World Cup. After everything that happened with Spygate and Middlesbrough’s bizarre route back to Wembley, it felt especially harsh.

He’s fit again now though, and with a point to prove. The other Charlotte connection comes through the Frenchman Adilson Malanda.

Malanda arrived from Charlotte FC last summer and looked like he’d been playing Championship football for years. Calm on the ball, physically dominant, and one of Middlesbrough’s most important players almost immediately. It also says something about how far MLS has come.

A few years ago, English clubs were still asking whether players could make the jump from America. Middlesbrough stopped asking and just started signing them.

Morris. Berhalter. Arfsten. Malanda. I’ll resist the urge to include Mcgree. At this rate, Middlesbrough should probably get a loyalty discount on MLS transfers.

It is impossible to write about Middlesbrough’s prospects without acknowledging the chaos that last season descended into. Southampton’s Spygate admission expelled them from the playoffs and reinstated Middlesbrough into a final they won the right to play only because a rival had been filming their training sessions. They reached Wembley. McGree got injured. They lost in the ninety-fifth minute.

The season built over forty-six Championship matches ended in the most brutal way imaginable. Ipswich Town went up. Coventry City went up. So did Hull City. Middlesbrough went home.

The difference this year is that they enter with three American players who know each other’s games inside out, a manager who has already shown he can navigate a promotion race, and a score to settle.

Middlesbrough go into this season with the clear goal of promotion, and their activity in the transfer market certainly reflects it. And they may not be finished. Middlesbrough are still being linked with further reinforcements, including Manchester United goalkeeper Radek Vitek and Tottenham defender Ashley Phillips, suggesting this window is still very much a work in progress.

There will, of course, be strong competition, not even considering the three Premier League teams that were relegated in West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Burnley. Middlesbrough will no doubt view it as a blessing that their old spygate foe Southampton will be starting the season on -4 points.

Hoping that deduction sees Southampton out of direct contention, there are two automatic spots available and a playoff picture that will be contested by several well-resourced clubs. Middlesbrough open their competitive season against one of them, Hollywood’s favourite football club, Wrexham on August 7th in the EFL Cup, a fixture that is sure to be highly watched across the US.

In short, Morris is the engine, Berhalter is the creator, and Arfsten would bring the X-factor as a wingback. McGree, fit and motivated after missing the World Cup, adds a fourth. Malanda adds real quality in the backline. Throw in a couple more signings and you have a well-constructed squad, built around a clear recruitment strategy, an increasingly obvious pathway from MLS, and just a sprinkle of Taylor Swift’s Love Story. What’s not to love?

The question is whether Hellberg can sustain the momentum from the second half of last season across a full campaign, and whether a club that lost a playoff final in the ninety-fifth minute can recover psychologically to go again. Everything about the summer window suggests the answer is yes.

For American football fans wondering where to direct their attention in the English second tier this season, the answer has never been simpler. Go to the Riverside. Our American boys are back.