Alex Freeman's Journey to Villarreal: A Bold Move
Alex Freeman had seen the rumors. He’d scrolled past the headlines, the speculative posts, the fan edits dropping him into a yellow shirt. But when Villarreal finally called, the timing still hit him like a slide tackle he didn’t see coming.
He had pictured it, though.
“I was visualizing it,” he says. “You see the rumors, you see online, you see all the posts… I was visualizing it. It’s not planning it, but it was seeing how it would work when I get there.”
The “when” arrived quicker than anyone expected.
From injury crisis to six-year bet
Villarreal did not start January with a firm plan to sign Freeman. He was on their radar after his Gold Cup breakout, a name on a list rather than a deal on the table. Then Juan Foyth ruptured his Achilles tendon and everything accelerated.
The club needed defensive cover. They also saw an opening: get a gifted 21-year-old in early, let him learn the league, give him a head start on the future they were sketching out. So they moved.
This was not a stopgap. Not a winter window panic buy. The six-year contract said everything.
“It’s kind of like ‘Wow!’ They put that confidence in me knowing that they want me to stay,” Freeman says. “They want me long-term, right? To show that commitment to me is very special. I just want to be a better player every day and hopefully get to a moment where I am able to really show myself.”
The move came with a cost: chaos. There was barely time to say goodbye in Orlando, barely time to learn names in Spain.
“I had to speed pack,” he says, laughing. “I barely had any of my stuff. Then, on top of that, I was in a hotel for like a month and a half, and that was really all I had. The main things I did were train, go home, play PS5, sleep, and go out occasionally to eat.”
He pauses, then sums it up simply: “I just had so much to process. We knew I’d leave eventually, but it happened so soon that it caught everyone off guard.”
The whirlwind didn’t stop when the plane landed. Two days after arriving in Spain, he was on the road with Villarreal, heading to Osasuna. A new club, a new league, a new life – and no time to catch his breath.
Now, though, the dust is settling. Slowly, the place is starting to feel like home.
A blur between signature and debut
Freeman officially signed on January 28. On February 9, he stepped onto the pitch for his Villarreal debut, coming off the bench against Espanyol. The gap between those dates? He can barely separate one day from the next.
“I had a feeling. I had hope,” he says of that first appearance. “You never really know, but stepping on the field, especially at home? It was crazy. Every time I’d hear whistling. It goes insane. I’ve never experienced anything like that. It’s a really big stadium, and it’s always packed no matter what day.”
The noise, the size, the constant hum of expectation – it all hit him at once.
“It’s a very good atmosphere over there. People are very welcoming. Everyone likes to talk, enjoy each other’s company, stuff like that. There’s also this aspect of them being very passionate about the sport. It’s a little more pressure. It’s more demanding, but the fans are also behind you all the time. They want what’s best for the club at the end of the day, right?”
Since then, his role has been limited. Five appearances, just 58 minutes. Villarreal are easing him in, protecting a young defender who, a year ago, was only just breaking into the Orlando City lineup.
Freeman understands the pace of his introduction. He also understands the pace of La Liga – and how far it sits from anything he has known.
“How fast the play is, it’s ridiculous,” he says. “You have no time on the ball. When I first got there, I’d never seen anything like that in my life. It’s the fastest pace I’ve ever played at.”
For some, that kind of shock can plant doubts. Freeman treats it as another level to climb.
Last summer, his first international assignment with the USMNT was to deal with Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz. By autumn, he was starting for his country and scoring twice against Uruguay. The steps keep getting steeper, but he keeps taking them.
“When you go to places like this, you’re always going to have, not doubts, but questions,” he says. “It’s about putting yourself first and risking yourself, right? Not only do you want to be a better player, but a better person. I moved so far away from home. I have to properly grow up now, right? I can’t be a kid anymore. I can’t get kid treatment.”
Learning in a club built to develop
On the pitch, Villarreal offers exactly what he came for: a place to sharpen his game in a league that punishes every mistake and rewards every detail. The club’s reputation for developing players is one of the reasons he never really hesitated.
“Football-wise, this is one of the things I need in my game. I need to take it up a notch and be more technical,” he says. “It’s something that, if I had to choose a club, I would choose this club in this country because it’s somewhere where I can take my next step.
“It was always the right move for me. I needed to go, not only to prove myself, because I have done that in the past, but to really test myself. I want to show that I am able to do it and be in that environment.”
Off the field, the transition has been kinder. A Florida native, Freeman is used to heat, sunshine, and a slower rhythm to life. Spain offers its own version of that – with a twist.
“The food is great,” he says, laughing again. “It’s cheap, too. The Paella? Seafood? Oh my God. Everyone’s respectful, everyone’s dressed nice, the city’s always crowded. Everyone just enjoys life. I feel like in Spain, that’s the main thing they do.”
The last few weeks have brought structure. A house. A car. His family visiting. The basics that turn a move into a life.
“I would say the past few weeks, it’s all gotten easier. I got my house, got my car, got everything I need. My family came out, so that made it better. I think everything has kind of clicked, and it feels good.”
Inside the dressing room, he hasn’t had to navigate it alone. Former MLS standouts and current Canada internationals Tajon Buchanan and Tani Oluwaseyi have helped guide him. Renato Veiga, fresh from facing the USMNT with Portugal, has been another steady presence. Thomas Partey and Nicolas Pepe bring Premier League experience and fluent English.
There is no shortage of voices he can lean on. Still, he knows he has work to do.
If he is going to stay at Villarreal for the long haul – and that is his plan – he has to meet the country halfway.
“It’s a good journey that I really need,” he says. “Not knowing Spanish as much makes it harder because you don’t know the language, but for me, it’s been good. The group of guys has been so welcoming. Spanish life is also good. There’s a lot I can explore.”
The exploring can wait. Football cannot.
A World Cup gamble
This move came with real risk. Freeman left a starting role and regular minutes in MLS for a league where nothing is guaranteed, and he did it in a World Cup year.
By jumping in January, he put his USMNT place on the line. The bet is simple: short-term uncertainty for long-term growth. The danger is just as clear – an adjustment period that costs him a seat on the plane.
USMNT boss Mauricio Pochettino does not sound overly concerned.
“I want the players to play at their best in the team,” Pochettino said in March. “Maybe you say Gio Reyna or Alex Freeman, they are not playing too much right now, but it’s different. If you give your best and after you don’t get gametime, if that happens, okay. What I don’t want is to not give your best, and then you don’t get time.”
Freeman has taken that message literally. Most of his work is invisible to the public eye, buried in training sessions and gym work, in video meetings and extra touches after practice.
“One of the things I want to achieve is just to be my best self,” he says. “There are so many things that I can improve on. Over these next few months, that’s the goal: try to be happy. I’m going to continue to practice hard, continue to do the stuff off the field to make sure I get that chance, but there is a next step: performing every weekend in La Liga. That’s the goal for me.”
The list of milestones already ticked off is long. World Cup on the horizon. USMNT breakthrough. A move to Spain. A six-year deal at a club that trusts its academy and its young imports.
He’s living the sort of year most 21-year-olds only dream about. He barely has time to process it.
“I’m hyped about a lot of stuff,” he says. “It’s really hard to even talk about what’s exciting because I can barely take it all in. Come back to me in June, and hopefully there’s even more to be hyped about. Six months [later], things are different. Three months [later], things are different. Nothing is ever settling.”
Neither is he. If the last year is any indication, Alex Freeman is only just reaching the first bend in a career that’s gathering speed – and he has no intention of slowing down.
