Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty's newfound positional versatility leads to CanMNT call-up for Charlotte FC loanee

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Sometimes, a change of scenery can make a world of difference for a young player.

Jahkelee Marshall-Rutty has benefited from that this season, as he’s found a new lease on life with Charlotte FC, who he joined on loan from CF Montréal back in April. 

Since that move, he’s already made 23 appearances across all competitions with his new club, generating four assists in just under 2000 minutes of action since his arrival. 

Now, thanks to his performances, he’s earned a call-up to the CanMNT for the September window, as Jesse Marsch included him in his squad for friendlies vs. Romania and Wales next month. 

Repping The Crown and Canada 🇨🇦

Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty has been called up for @CANMNT_Official's upcoming September friendlies! pic.twitter.com/e0Yzyggv5W

— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) August 26, 2025

It’s a huge accomplishment for the 21-year-old, who hasn’t earned a Canada call since 2020, when he was brought into the CanMNT fold as a 16-year-old for a January camp. He didn’t make an appearance in that window, but he did become the youngest player to earn a call-up to the CanMNT - little did he know, that’d be his only call-up to date. 

Yet, that shows why this Charlotte stint has been so important for him, as he’s finally starting to look like the player that many hoped he’d one day become when he signed for Toronto FC as a 15-year-old in 2020. 

For a multitude of reasons, the biggest being a lack of opportunity, he never really found his feet with Toronto, which led the club to trade him to rivals Montréal for just under a $1 million in GAM (+add-ons and a sell-on clause) last year, a move they did with Marshall-Rutty in the last year of his contract and frustrated with his playing time.   

Unfortunately, after a decent start to his stint in Montréal, who he immediately signed an extension with after the trade before making 10 appearances the rest of the season, including a start in their loss to Atlanta United in the MLS Cup Playoffs wild card match, Marshall-Rutty then made just six appearances with Montréal in 2025 before he was sent on loan for the rest of the year. 

In the end, that loan has proven to be a stroke of genius from Charlotte, who are currently riding a seven-game winning streak in MLS play, a run that has pushed them into the top 10 of MLS’s Supporters Shield standings, just seven points behind first-place Philadelphia Union.

Interestingly, after struggling to stick as a full back with Toronto and then as a wing back with Montréal, though, Marshall-Rutty has found his home back as a full back in Charlotte - among his 19 starts with Charlotte, 13 have been as a left back and six as a right back. 

That’s huge, as the big thing that has held Marshall-Rutty back at this stage of his career is that he’s not proven to be dangerous enough offensively to be a winger, but hasn’t been defensively responsible enough to be a full back, making him a classic ‘tweener’ wide player that doesn’t fit in either position. Because of that, it’s made it hard for him to find a regular place in the lineup, as coaches have struggled to accept the trade-off they felt came with putting him at either winger or full back. 

He’s remained a supremely talented player, which is why he signed with TFC at his age and made 83 appearances with them across five seasons, but he never truly seemed to establish himself as a full-time regular in their lineup. 

Now, though, with Charlotte, he’s found that role, as evidenced by the fact that 19 of his 23 appearances have been starts - just 33 of his 83 appearances with Toronto were starts, while 10 of his 16 appearances with Montréal came from the start of matches. 

That’s opened the door for his CanMNT return, as he joins the fold at a time when Jesse Marsch’s side is looking to bolster their full back depth. Short three of their four main full backs for this window due to long-term injuries, as Alphonso Davies (knee), Alistair Johnston (hamstring) and Sam Adekugbe (Achilles) all look unlikely to feature for Canada until 2026, that has pushed Marsch to consider some new options, especially when seeing that their fourth full back, Richie Laryea, has also dealt with hamstring issues this year. 

In that sense, though, Marshall-Rutty is a great addition to the Canadian squad at this time. Not only is he young (he’s the fourth-youngest player in this squad behind Luc De Fougerolles, Jamie Knight-Lebel and Justin Hibbert), but his newfound positional versatility offers them cover at both full back positions, and higher up the pitch, too. 

As a result, not only does this seem like a move from Marsch that addresses a key need in the present, but this looks like a decision that could have larger implications down the road, too. 

Take a second and appreciate this Pat run + finish again, please pic.twitter.com/mQjRaxBocc

— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) May 22, 2025

In particular, the big one is that Marshall-Rutty could be a name to watch in the race for a spot in the CanMNT’s World Cup squad now, especially if he can continue to progress the way he has over the last few months. Given the long-term question marks that surround the health of those Canadian full-backs, having someone who can offer cover at both positions seems to be a big asset for him to have. 

Now, though, the big goal for Marshall-Rutty will be to make the most of this opportunity that awaits him this camp. As seen with players like De Fougerolles, Niko Sigur, Nathan Saliba and other players, Marsch is willing to audition high-potential youngsters who show signs of being able to fit into his system, so it’ll be up to Marshall-Rutty to impress on the training ground and in-game if he sees the pitch for his long-awaited CanMNT debut this camp. 

Of course, to that point, a big question arises - what should Marshall-Rutty be expected to bring to the fold for Canada going forward? 

Based on his play with Charlotte this year, the big one is his play with the ball. To their credit, instead of shoehorning him at full back and asking him to do too much defensively, Charlotte have looked to use his skills on the ball, and he’s done well with that. When watching him, one big thing that stands out is that they want him to play a big role in their build-up - and that’s shown in his heatmap, specifically.

Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty's heatmap from this year, showing that most of his touches on the ball have come in his own final third and the middle third of the pitch (WyScout)

That’s also seen in some of his numbers, too, as he’s in the 82nd percentile in progressive carries (2.49 per 90), 93rd percentile in carries into the final third (2.04 per 90), 78th percentile in pass completion percentage (84.5%) and 83rd percentile in goal-creating actions (0.34 per 90) (all #s compared to MLS full backs, via FBRef), showing the impact of that ball progression.

Marshall-Rutty's percentile chart from this year, showing that his strengths have been his assists and ball carrying, with work to be done on his defending and passing (FBRef). 

In particular, his ability to carry the ball into the dangerous areas of the pitch will be what stands out most, which has led to his high number of goal-creating actions through that. Further to that, he’s also averaged 2.32 progressive runs per 90 (via WyScout), showing how impressive he’s been with his dribbling, too. 

At the same time, for what he’s done well with his dribbling, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t areas to improve on with his play on the ball. More specifically, he has not generated a lot of final product, four assists aside (he’s outperforming his expected assists significantly, sitting with 0.11 assists per 90 compared to 0.05 xAG), and he hasn’t been as strong a passer as he’s been a dribbler. 

YOU'RE KILLING ME, SMALLS #USOC2025 // @CharlotteFC pic.twitter.com/8yiTH6LoeJ

— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) May 22, 2025

He has shown some signs of encouraging play on the ball, completing 87.3% of his 42.78 passes per 90, including 57% of his 3.93 long balls, 79.3% of his 4.36 passes to the final third and 54.5% of his 1.3 passes to the box, which is all good to see. At the same time, he’ll also look to be a bit more dangerous with his passes, as he sends 14.74 of his passes forward, compared to 9.08 backwards, attempting just 1.81 crosses (at a 34.8% rate) and generating just 0.31 key passes per 90 (#s via WyScout). 

Zaha Equalizer ‼️

Wilfred Zaha puts @CharlotteFC level in Philly 👏 pic.twitter.com/zmnLwK6UKe

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 15, 2025

Then, defensively, most of his numbers are pretty middling among his FBRef peers, which shows that he’ll still want to keep working on that side of his game - something that Marsch will especially be pushing him to do. There are some encouraging signs - he’s won 53.1% of his 11.4 duels per 90, including 54.8% of his 5.31 defensive duels - but he’ll want to improve on his 3.62 interceptions and 6.02 recoveries (#s via WyScout). 

To be fair, he’s not helped by the fact that Charlotte have given up the 16th-most goals in MLS with 39, and have the ninth-worst xG against with 41.7. They’ve improved a lot lately, as they’ve conceded just three goals during this seven-game winning streak (even if they’re riding a bit of their luck in the xG conceded department), but their overall middling team defensive numbers have otherwise contributed to some of Marshall-Rutty’s lower defensive output. 

For what it’s worth, though, there are signs that his numbers could further improve. Specifically, the big one is that he was a lot more dangerous offensively in a wing-back role last year, meaning that he could still have plenty of growth to come on the attacking side of his game.

Marshall-Rutty's chart from this year compared to last year, showing that he could have a lot more offensive juice to give in a more aggressive attacking role, something that Charlotte will consider as they tackle the rest of their season (FBRref)

What that means, though, is that Charlotte will know they can now push him to hit another level now that he’s established himself in their team, as he’s still got a lot more of a ceiling to reach, even if he’s finally appeared to find a bit of a floor as a player. 

That last point has not gone unnoticed, either, as seen by this call-up, as well as some of the recent transfer rumours that have surrounded him - he’s recently been linked by Rudy Galetti to a move to Premier League side Burnley, Championship side Coventry, La Liga side Villarreal, and Bundesliga sides Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg. 

🚨🔥 EXCL | Burnley and Coventry are showing interest in Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty.

Villarreal, Wolfsburg, and other clubs are also tracking the 🇨🇦 right full-back.

The player sees a future move to Europe as an important step in his career.

All the details on @TEAMtalk ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Qj079xr6yw

— Rudy Galetti (@RudyGaletti) August 22, 2025

A move to any of those clubs is unlikely to happen this window, with Marshall-Rutty still on loan (any transfer this summer would have to be done through Montréal, meaning his loan would need to be cancelled), and with Charlotte currently on the upswing, but it’s still interesting to see those rumours out there. 

It’s not surprising, to be fair - Marshall-Rutty is someone who trained with Liverpool as a teenager, and has attracted European interest for as long as he’s been a professional, after all - but it’s a sign of his progress this season that these wayward links have seemed to turn into concrete rumours. 

Pep Biel brace alert! 🚨

He doubles @CharlotteFC’s lead! pic.twitter.com/j6bMcqrcat

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 17, 2025

Now, if he can finish the season strongly with Charlotte and carve out a bigger role with the CanMNT, those rumours will only continue to intensify heading into the winter and next summer, especially if he can crack Canada’s World Cup squad. 

Yet, that once again shows why this window is so crucial for Marshall-Rutty. Now that he’s earned this opportunity, he’ll want to make the most of it, as it can open the door for a lot bigger things for the youngster, as he finally looks to make good on the potential he’s shown for years. 

"We have issues on our back line with injuries, and as a national team staff, you're always evaluating the potential, form and fitness of players," Marsch said of Marshall-Rutty's inclusion. "Who looks like they can start to maybe push themselves into the picture a little bit more. Jahkeele has made a great case for himself down in Charlotte, they're in a good way, winning a lot of matches lately."

"He's played on the left, and he's played on the right, so he's shown some flexibility. He's been a very confident player, he's playing more aggressively, he's doing a lot of things that fit in with the way we want to play."

"Now, when he comes to camp, we need to push him and we need to challenge him to meet the standard that we think exists within our national team, and then we'll see how he responds."