Columbus Crew Bet a Free-Agent Fullback on a Slot Trade

June 9 was not a quiet depth add. Columbus signed Brooks Lennon the same afternoon it sent Yevhen Cheberko to LAFC, and the two moves only make sense as one piece of roster math.

Lennon, a U.S. right back who does not occupy an international slot, took a deal through June 2027 with club options for the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons. Three months later he is starting on the flank. The Crew are 13th in the East.

Columbus Traded Cheberko the Same Afternoon

General manager Issa Tall announced that Lennon had been signed via MLS free agency through June 2027 after six seasons at Atlanta United and three at Real Salt Lake. The club called him a 10-year MLS veteran whose versatility would supply depth for the rest of the season.

Hours earlier, the same front office had taken a 2026 international roster slot from LAFC in exchange for Cheberko, the Ukrainian center back who arrived from NK Osijek on June 9, 2023, three years to the day before he left. LAFC said he would join its roster when the secondary transfer window opened on July 13.

Cheberko had 64 regular-season appearances, 44 of them starts, and one goal for Columbus. Across all competitions he logged 94 games, one goal, and one assist, and he played all three of the Crew’s 2026 U.S. Open Cup matches, with two starts and one assist, before the trade.

THE JUNE 9 LEDGER

Tall framed Lennon as competition, not a headline. “Brooks is a proven MLS player whose versatility and skillset is a good complement to our roster,” he said. “He is a hard-working player whose professionalism and ability to impact the game in multiple ways will provide important depth and competition within our group heading into the remainder of the season.”

The club posted the welcome the same evening.

https://x.com/ColumbusCrew/status/2064437616284459128

The Extra Slot Lennon Does Not Occupy

MLS divides 241 international roster slots among 30 clubs, tradable so a roster can sit above or below the default of eight. A U.S. citizen does not spend one. Cheberko did. Moving him freed the slot he used and added the extra 2026 slot LAFC sent back, which is two units of foreign capacity relative to keeping him.

Lennon, born in Paradise Valley, Arizona, fills minutes on the flank without touching that pool. The Crew then spent the secondary window, which ran July 13 to Sept. 2, loading attacking talent. Brais Méndez and Santiago Rodríguez arrived as Designated Players. Wessam Abou Ali was already on a DP ticket. Eric Bailly, Lautaro Giaccone, Gonzalo Tapia, and Anass Zaroury joined a list that already ran through France, Denmark, Portugal, Algeria, and Cape Verde.

The club later called it the most active summer window in MLS and said it had added two Designated Players plus pieces for 2026 and beyond. That binge is the bill the Cheberko trade was meant to pay. Lennon is the domestic offset, a wing back who lets the foreigners stay on the roster sheet.

The first objection around the signing was minutes. Mohamed Farsi and Andrés Herrera already held wide roles, and a 28-year-old free agent looked like a third option behind them. That read treated Lennon as a spare part and ignored the slot. The point of the afternoon was not to replace Farsi. It was to replace Cheberko’s international line with an American who can still overlap.

November, a Shoulder, and a Declined Option

Atlanta made him available. On Nov. 18, 2025, the Five Stripes declined his contract option after a 2025 season in which he played 25 regular-season matches, started 17, scored once, and added three assists in 1,557 minutes. He had started 153 of 171 regular-season games for Atlanta, with nine goals, and he holds the second-most assists in club history at 37.

The end of that run started earlier. A shoulder dislocation in the 2024 playoffs needed surgery and delayed his 2025 start. Atlanta missed the 2025 playoffs, finishing 14th in the East with 28 points, and Tata Martino returned as coach. Lennon went into free agency on Jan. 1 and did not land until June.

HOW HE REACHED COLUMBUS

1. Nov. 18, 2025: Atlanta declines his contract option and lists him among four players headed to free agency.
2. June 9, 2026: Columbus signs him and trades Cheberko to LAFC for a 2026 international slot on the same day.
3. July 13, 2026: The secondary window opens; Cheberko can be added to LAFC’s roster. A calf problem sidelines Lennon through Aug. 1.
4. Aug. 1, 2026: He debuts at Inter Miami for four minutes in a 2-2 draw.
5. Aug. 16, 2026: He records his first Crew assist on Chase Adams’ first MLS goal at Charlotte.
6. Sept. 5, 2026: He starts at left wing back in a 3-0 win over Colorado, takes a yellow card in the 71st minute, and comes off in the 87th.
7. Sept. 9, 2026: He starts again in a 2-1 loss at D.C. United.

He told the club the fit was the draw. “I’m extremely excited to be joining the Crew,” Lennon said. “It’s an incredible organization with amazing facilities, and the way Columbus likes to play fits my style perfectly. I can’t wait to get going, play at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field and bring home wins for our fans.”

On Aug. 3 he was more specific. “When I knew my time with Atlanta was coming to an end, I put together a list of teams that I would like to see myself go to, and that I could see myself contributing to most,” he said. “Columbus was at the top of that list.”

Atlanta’s reboot also sent Jamal Thiaré to Columbus on Feb. 2 for $300,000 in general allocation money. Two Five Stripes regulars now share a locker room in Ohio, and Atlanta sits 14th in the East with 22 points from 24 games, one point behind the Crew.

Four Minutes in Miami, Then a Starting Job

Henrik Rydström was already gone. The Swede lasted until May 17, and assistant Laurent Courtois took over as interim coach. Lennon signed into that staff, then sat through the World Cup pause with the calf issue. He was still in the treatment room when Columbus played a 1-1 friendly with Burnley on July 12.

His first competitive minutes came on Aug. 1 at Inter Miami. Méndez scored in the 84th minute on debut, and Lennon replaced Thiaré for the last four minutes of a 2-2 draw against the 2025 MLS Cup winners. Giaccone came off the bench in the same match. The club logged three debuts in one night.

https://x.com/ColumbusCrew/status/2084002906399715455

Two weeks later in Charlotte, the combination the Crew wanted showed up in one sequence. Giaccone lofted a cross, Lennon headed it on, and 18-year-old homegrown Chase Adams finished for his first MLS goal in his first start. Crew vice president of communications Rob McBurnett called it a goal of firsts: Giaccone’s first MLS assist, Lennon’s first Crew assist, Adams’ first MLS goal.

Charlotte still won 3-1. Lennon started that match, came off the bench at Nashville on Aug. 23, started the Leagues Cup quarterfinal loss to Club América on Aug. 26, then started the 3-0 home win over Colorado on Sept. 5. Through that Colorado match he had four league appearances, two starts, and 213 minutes, with no goals and one yellow card. He started again at D.C. United four days later.

HIS FIRST MONTHS IN BLACK AND GOLD

• Aug. 1 at Inter Miami: Four-minute substitute debut in a 2-2 draw, on for Thiaré after Méndez’s free kick.
• Aug. 16 at Charlotte: Started; headed on Giaccone’s cross for Adams’ first MLS goal, the Crew’s only score in a 3-1 loss.
• Sept. 5 vs. Colorado: Started at left wing back in a 3-0 win, intercepted a pass and forced a save, booked in the 71st minute, replaced in the 87th.
• Sept. 9 at D.C. United: Started in a 2-1 defeat, Tai Baribo scoring twice for the hosts and Rodríguez replying for Columbus.

The Miami cameo was the easy night. The Colorado start was the job he was signed to take, on the left, overlapping, fouling to recover when the cross did not land.

What High Wing Backs Ask of Lennon

Courtois wants the fullbacks high. Lennon ranked Columbus first because of that, and because of the training ground and the stadium, and he has said the pattern is already clear on the grass. The Crew wanted width from those high wing backs, and he listed that as the tactical reason he picked them over the rest of his free-agency list.

Laurent has a very specific style of play that he wants to implement, and ever since I’ve arrived, not only in training but in every aspect of the game, I see that style being implemented by the guys on the field. That’s very good to see, because it’s a clear message to the players on the field that everyone knows where everyone’s supposed to be, and you can rely on each other.

Brooks Lennon, defender, Aug. 3, 2026

He described himself as a spark-plug type whose runs in behind and delivery into the box differ from the rest of the group. That is the Atlanta tape. In 2023 he set career marks with four goals and 10 regular-season assists, then added three more in the playoffs for 13, the most by an MLS defender that year. In 2024 he started all 33 regular-season matches, played 2,957 minutes, and led Atlanta in starts, minutes, assists (eight), key passes (74), and successful crosses (83).

The knock that followed him out of Georgia is the same skill. He will attempt the extra cross. Some of them die in the first defender. The Crew are paying for the ones that do not, and for a body who can do it on either side, which is why the Colorado sheet had him at left wing back with Farsi still in the eleven on the right.

Before MLS he spent two years in Liverpool’s academy after scoring 31 goals in the 2014-15 U.S. Soccer Development Academy season. He joined Real Salt Lake on loan in 2017, then signed, and put up 86 regular-season appearances, 63 starts, three goals, and 10 assists. Atlanta bought him on Dec. 2, 2019, for $150,000 in general allocation money and $150,000 in targeted allocation money. League records credit him with 257 regular-season appearances and 42 assists, plus 12 goals and 216 starts. He has one senior U.S. cap, earned Dec. 19, 2021, against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he made the Best XI at the 2017 Concacaf U-20 Championship after four goals.

23 Points and a Semifinal Against Orlando

The table has not paid the bet back. After 24 games the Crew are 6-5-13 for 23 points, 13th in the Eastern Conference, with 35 goals scored and 41 conceded. They are four points behind 12th-place New York Red Bulls and six behind ninth-place New York City FC in a 34-game season. Home has been 5-2-5. Away is 1-3-8.

WHERE THE CREW STAND

• League row: 6 wins, 5 draws, 13 losses, 23 points, 13th in the East, 24 games played.
• Goal line: 35 scored, 41 conceded, minus-6 difference.
• Next league match: New York Red Bulls at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field on Sept. 12.
• Open Cup: Semifinal against Orlando City at home on Sept. 16, 7 p.m. ET.

Leagues Cup was the other summer path. Columbus beat Atlas 3-1, then Pumas on penalties after a 1-1 draw, then lost 2-0 to América in the quarterfinals on Aug. 26, a match Lennon started. The Open Cup file is cleaner: three wins, eight goals scored, one conceded, and a home semifinal against Orlando, the same club they drew 1-1 in league play on April 12.

Cheberko had already helped get them to this round. His three Open Cup appearances and one assist are on the other side of the ledger now, in Los Angeles, where John Thorrington called him a proven MLS defender who understands what it takes to win. Columbus kept the slot and the American who does not spend it.

Lennon is 28, 5-foot-10, and wears No. 11. The guarantee runs only to June 2027, which is a short leash for a player who has already given MLS 257 regular-season games. If Courtois keeps the wing backs high and the table stays this low, those options in 2027-28 and 2028-29 will be a separate decision. The next one is Orlando on Sept. 16, on the grass he said he could not wait to play on.