Some are regulars for their country who struggle to play for their clubs.
Others feature more often for their European teams, but still face a summer of speculation.
More than three weeks since the Unites States crashed out of the Copa America in the group stages after a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay, five of the players involved that night in Kansas City have imminent decisions to make.
For three, it is about ensuring they can get regular first team-football next season, especially without knowing how Gregg Berhalter’s successor as USMNT coach would view the selection of fringe players at club level.
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Chief among them is the national team’s goalkeeper, Matt Turner, who has described himself as “addicted” to the Premier League, but may have to reluctantly leave it.
Turner’s prospects of playing a meaningful role next season at Nottingham Forest, the club he joined last summer on a four-year deal, are slim.
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He lost his starting place to Greece international Odysseas Vlachodimos in November. Turner then won it back, briefly, only for Forest to sign Matz Sels from Strasbourg on January deadline day in a €6million (£5.1m, $6.5m) deal, and he went straight into the starting lineup.
Vlachodimos joined Newcastle United this summer, but it has not eased the pathway for Turner. This month, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side signed 6ft 8in (204cm) goalkeeper Carlos Miguel from Brazilian club Corinthians on a four-year deal.
Turner appears to be surplus to requirements. At 30 years old, he will want to be playing regularly to keep his place under the next USMNT manager, and there is interest in him from other clubs in Europe. There has also been speculation about a return to Major League Soccer for the former New England Revolution shot-stopper, but he believes England is the optimal place for his career.
“When I was over there (the U.S.), all I wanted to do was be over here (England),” Turner told ESPN this year. “I’m sort of addicted to life in the Premier League; I want to be around it. I want to continue to get better and this is the place to do that.”
Whether that is still an option remains to be seen.
A disappointing spell in Nottingham also hit Turner’s international team-mate Gio Reyna.
The 21-year-old’s January loan to the Premier League was an attempt to get more minutes away from Borussia Dortmund, where he was growing frustrated after just one Bundesliga start under previous manager Edin Terzic.
But at Forest, Reyna started just two of 16 possible Premier League games. He was used from the bench seven times in the top flight but managed just 230 league minutes (with an extra 60 seconds in the FA Cup).
Perhaps Forest was never a straightforward option for the game time he craved. Reyna is flexible — he was deployed on the right and left of midfield and then in a front three at the Copa, where he started every game — but Forest had other options. Morgan Gibbs-White, who operates in the No 10 role, is one of Forest’s most important players. The potential impact of the former Wolverhampton Wanderers playmaker missing through injury was one of the key factors in Forest signing Reyna on loan.
Within the 4-2-3-1 formation that Forest prefer, former Manchester United winger Anthony Elanga delivered five goals and seven assists last season, largely from the right. There was also Callum Hudson-Odoi who, like Reyna, was once regarded as one of the brightest talents of his generation.
It all meant Reyna frequently found himself fourth or even fifth in the pecking order for a starting place.
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Back in Dortmund, a new manager — Nuri Sahin replaced Terzic following their Champions League final defeat — could signal new opportunities, but the congested route into the team has not shifted.
It is not impossible that Reyna will get a chance under Terzic’s former assistant, but Dortmund also want to sign another winger if they can find buyers for either Donyell Malen or Karim Adeyemi. They have high hopes for 18-year-old midfielder Kjell Watjen too.
Stuttgart’s Germany international midfielder and winger Chris Fuhrich, 25, is on Sahin’s radar and if Dortmund signed him, Reyna’s prospects would fade even further.
At least for Ricardo Pepi, the situation is not reflective of a failure to consistently impress. The 21-year-old made 40 appearances across all competitions for Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven last season, scoring nine goals and registering three assists despite just three of those appearances being starts.
He was forced to play stand-in to captain and fan hero Luuk de Jong, who gave up international football to become one of the driving forces in the club’s near unbeaten Eredivisie campaign. De Jong scored 38 goals in all competitions.
De Jong was the centre-forward in a front three, the role best suited to Pepi, so even the exit of another starting attacker, Hirving Lozano to San Diego, this summer does not significantly change his status.
However, he only joined PSV last summer on a five-year deal and is highly rated by manager Peter Bosz, who has made it clear Pepi has a bright future with the club.
The same cannot be said of Weston McKennie in Turin. The 25-year-old midfielder is an established starter for his country, and last season displayed impressive resilience to come from the perceived fringes at Juventus to starting 33 games.
A year ago, McKennie’s future was thrown into doubt when the club did not include him on the roster for their money-spinning tour of his United States homeland.
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Instead of sulking and pushing for another move, after a previous loan at then English Premier League side Leeds United flopped, McKennie knuckled down and fought his way into Massimiliano Allegri’s plans.
It was something that impressed Berhalter. “We can’t say enough about Weston and his growth over these last years,” the recently sacked USMNT boss said in March. “If you think about this, Weston was in a situation where he went back to Juventus after the summer and he didn’t have a locker and he didn’t have a parking spot.
“Most players would say, ‘OK, I’m done, I’m leaving this club, it’s not for me’, but Weston said, ‘I’m going to dig in and I’m going to prove that I belong’. He’s done not only that, not only does he belong, but he’s proven to be one of the best players at Juventus this year and one of the top midfielders in Serie A.”
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So what now? Allegri has left but the suggestion is that new Juve boss Thiago Motta is planning a revamped midfield. He has already signed Brazil star Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa for €50million plus €1.5m in add-ons and Nice’s 23-year-old midfielder Khephren Thuram.
Another highly rated midfielder, Nicolo Fagioli, is eligible to play for the club again after serving a seven-month ban related to betting, and Juventus hold a long-term interest in Atalanta’s Dutch midfielder Teun Koopmeiners. To finance that, Motta would need to sell and with McKennie out of contract next summer, this would be the best chance to profit from his revived club form.
For his part, the Texan has said he would like to stay at the club, alongside international team-mate Tim Weah, but Juventus’ preference would be to sell and bank around €18million.
It does not mean an exit is guaranteed. Last summer showed that McKennie has the stomach to fight and with Juventus part of an expanded Champions League, along with juggling a Club World Cup campaign and their Serie A commitments, they will need squad depth.
For McKennie, returning to the role of a bit-part player would be a backwards step. Currently finishing his post-Copa vacation while his Juve team-mates are in Germany for a pre-season camp, he will have a lot to ponder.
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Lastly, there is Antonee Robinson, who has enjoyed a brighter spell in the Premier League than many of his USMNT colleagues. His excellent form for Fulham last season sparked rumours that bigger clubs, such as Liverpool, were interested.
Robinson signed a five-year deal at Craven Cottage last summer and this summer, he told The Athletic that his focus is on the here and now.
“I signed the deal because I was very happy at Fulham,” he said. “I want to keep developing, I’m very settled here, I love the club. Interest from other people is great. Obviously it comes down to if someone wanted me enough to pay what Fulham would want, and if Fulham saw that as a good idea, then I’d leave.
“But until that happens, and I have no idea if it would, I’m just looking forward to the Copa and then starting next year with Fulham.”
Regardless of his admirers, it is increasingly unlikely Fulham would be willing to sell. They have already lost and not replaced key players this window: Tosin Adarabioyo to Chelsea, Joao Palhinha to Bayern Munich, and Bobby De Cordova-Reid to Leicester City. With speculation that influential Brazilian Willian might also leave, manager Marco Silva would be galled at the prospect of losing the consistent left-back.
With the transfer window in Europe remaining open until the end of August, the sands may yet shift for all those USMNT stars mulling over their futures.
Regular first-team football will be a priority as the international team recovers from the disappointment of Copa America and begins to build to the home-soil World Cup in just under two years.
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Fulham's player of the season - Antonee Robinson
(Top photo: Gio Reyna; by Omar Vega via Getty Images)
