Jayden Nelson

Jayden Nelson's path to Major League Soccer ran through Toronto's own academy system before it took him across the Atlantic and back. He came up through Toronto III and Toronto FC II, signed with Toronto FC as a Homegrown Player, and stayed with the club through 2022 before testing himself in Europe.

That move took him to Norway's Rosenborg BK, a transfer worth around €1 million, followed by a loan spell at German side SSV Ulm 1846. Nelson returned to MLS in 2025 with Vancouver Whitecaps FC, a stint that lasted little more than a year before Austin acquired him in a trade worth $1,250,000 in General Allocation Money plus a first-round pick in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft.

With Canada, Nelson has made 15–16 appearances and scored three goals, featuring at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in both 2023 and 2025 and earning a place in the squad for the 2026 World Cup. His development was flagged early: he scored a hat-trick for Canada's under-17 side in 2019, the same year he was named the country's young player of the year.

He has collected honours at club level too, winning the Canadian Championship with Toronto FC in 2020 and with Vancouver in 2025, when he was also named the competition's best young player. A strong start to that MLS season brought him Player of the Week honours in Week 1.