The 2024 season of Major League Soccer is off to a hot start, garnering newsworthy attention for events on and off the field. Each new year of competition brings forth the opportunity for young players to take a step forward in their careers, with a few new talents already beginning to stand out after a few matches. Brooklyn Raines is tabbed as someone to watch and has begun picking up steady minutes for the Houston Dynamo. The 18-year-old dual-national midfielder is already an experienced professional and could make further inroads at the international level.
Born in Liberia’s capital of Monrovia before moving to the United States, Raines competed with Inter FC Chicago and the Barça Residency Academy in Arizona at the youth level, earning praise for his “technical prowess” and passing ability at a variety of midfield positions. A trial at La Masia provided the opportunity to display “great confidence and maturity in possession.” Also a top futsal player, U.S. Youth Futsal identified him as one of the country’s best talents. He then joined the El Paso Locomotive in the USL Championship and made three substitute appearances in his sole season with the Texas outfit, described as “a more dangerous version of Tyler Adams.”
After spending time training with RB Salzburg, Raines signed with the Houston Dynamo, with the MLS club acquiring his rights from Real Salt Lake. “Brooklyn Raines is a very good young prospect that we were able to sign to the club,” former Dynamo head coach Paulo Nagamura told The Striker. “There’s a way to go for him to stand out in MLS, but we’re very, very happy to have him on board… He’s an interesting midfielder with a high level of potential to be an MLS player. We just have to now understand that it’s a process. He has to grind down and evolve as a player. We’re going to do the best job to create the best environment for him to do that.”
In his first season, he split time between the senior and reserve levels. The midfielder made 17 total appearances in MLS Next Pro, contributing one goal and three assists, while also featuring in four fixtures for the first team, starting in all three Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matches. His focus was on the “learning experience” while also receiving constant instruction from veteran teammates. Dynamo Theory praised him as having the potential to be the club’s best-ever homegrown talent with a stratospheric ceiling.
Last year, Raines continued to play with both teams, being ranked as one of the top 50 prospects in MLS by Top Drawer Soccer. He featured in 13 MLS Next Pro matches, contributing two assists but also made 10 total league and cup appearances with the first team. His first goal came in the third round of the Open Cup, converting the lone finish in a 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Observers noted his “consistent and mature game,” likely finding his permanent position as a defensive midfielder.
With 2024 tabbed as “a huge year for his development,” Raines has already enjoyed an expanded role in the squad, starting in three out of the first four matches. He went the full 90 minutes in the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, a 2-1 loss to St. Louis CITY SC. Top Drawer Soccer rated him as the tenth-best prospect in MLS and expects him to enjoy increased responsibility with an injury to star midfielder Hector Herrera.
At the international level, Raines is eligible to represent his birth nation of Liberia and the United States. He has appeared with the latter program in the U-17, U-19, and U-23 groups. His most recent inclusion came during the fall, being named to the USMNT U-19 squad that finished in fourth place at the Pan American Games in Chile.
A versatile midfielder, Raines is capable of lining up in the attacking, central, and holding roles, praised as “very sound positionally” with a strong tackling ability and smooth shift into transition. Modeling his game after Darlington Nagbe, he is “strong, confident, and effective in possession” as a true two-way talent. Houston has worked with him on playing out of tight spaces and handling bigger opponents, with coaches praising his high tactical IQ and technical ability.
“Brooklyn has a very well rounded and mature game,” wrote Marcus Chairez for Chasing a Cup. “He gets in good spaces, he is very clean on the ball and he knows when to dribble and when to release the ball. He isn’t super goal dangerous but he is very reliable defensively and he keeps things fluid offensively. He may never be great, but he is going to be very solid for many years to come. If he can add some [dynamism] to his game he could really be something. The one area that is missing from Brooklyn’s game right now is high impact offensive production… He won’t make mistakes that kill chances, but he isn’t going to create chances at a high volume right now.”
Despite being three years into his career, Raines is a relative newcomer to the professional game and has a lot of development left to undergo. The next few years will be crucial for him to continue growing, with earning consistent minutes and picking up experience the main priorities. The Dynamo appear to have presented him with a bigger role this season, and the challenge becomes holding onto his expanded spot in the rotation and overcoming any potential issues. With a run of strong appearances, he may even find his way onto the Olympics roster next summer.
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