Perhaps no country on earth exports more professional soccer players than Brazil. Year after year, the South American power sends talent to just about every corner of the globe, placing players in Japan, China, Australia, the Middle East and all across the top leagues in Europe.



But for all of the pros who leave the country to play abroad, comparatively few have jumped from Brazil to MLS. But based on activity in recent transfer windows, that appears to be changing.



MLS teams have signed six players from Brazilian leagues this winter, a healthy increase from the average of 2.75 signed out of Brazil over each of the last four offseasons. That number isn’t overwhelming, but it does move the Brazilian leagues into the same neighborhood as their counterparts in Argentina, another huge global exporter of talent that MLS teams have been raiding for top players for years.



The profile of players signed out of Brazil is also changing. None of the 11...