MLS boom: from pensioners to the top league? Ercan Kara & Co. report

Kara: “Not clear to many in Europe”

Lothar Matthäus, David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Steven Gerrard, Andrea Pirlo and Bastian Schweinsteiger: the list of international veterans who ended their careers in North American Major League Soccer has been long since the first edition in 1996. To this day, the MLS still has the reputation of the pensioners’ league in Europe, but this has long since become obsolete. The MLS has taken the next steps in its development and is clearly heading towards the goal of the top league – which is also slowly becoming noticeable when recruiting players in Europe.

The fact that the self-image of the MLS has changed became clear only recently last February, when superstar Neymar, the 30-year-old is tied to Paris Saint-Germain until 2025, emphasized that he would “love to play in the USA” in the future. , also because the season there is shorter, “so I would have three months vacation.” A statement that struck the MLS Commissioner Don Garber sour.

“We don’t need a big-name player who is at the end of his sporting career just because he has decided to end his career in MLS,” said the 64-year-old. “If they don’t come here to play and make a huge contribution to their club and the league and to respect the league and their fans, then we don’t want them in Major League Soccer.”

Clear words from Garber, which underline the change of image of the MLS. With a view towards the 2026 World Cup in Canada, the USA and Mexico, the North American league wants to take off – and is going its way with all consistency, even against world stars like Neymar. Old stars who once put the young league in the limelight have long since gone out of fashion. The average age of newcomers has fallen steadily in recent years: in 2017 it was 25.6 years, and in 2022 it will be 24.6 years.

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“There is a rethinking of many MLS clubs in relation to transfers from abroad. Gone are the days when players went back to the US for the last year or two of their careers,” Leonard Ahlrichs told Transfermarkt. The 27-year-old, who joined Blackburn Rovers in 2018 as the youngest scout in English professional football, now works as a player consultant at the agency SBE Management, where, as an MLS expert, he has a precise insight into developments in the player market. “It will invest specifically in players who have not yet reached their peak, are developing and can potentially be sold at a profit. The league grows with its players.”

The growth of the MLS is also reflected in the transfer investments. In the league ranking of expenses, the MLS has worked its way up to seventh place with almost 173 million euros in the last two transfer periods despite the Corona crisis, only the top 5 European leagues and the Russian Premier League, which as a result of the war of aggression in Ukraine will lose in importance are still ahead of her.

“MLS is evolving at a tremendous rate for a number of reasons. On the one hand, the American clubs are exclusively owner-managed, so they have significantly higher investment potential,” explains Ahlrichs, who also adds: “The infrastructure of almost all clubs is absolutely at Bundesliga level, in some cases even higher. If you look at the possibilities in Atlanta or what is currently being built in St. Louis, it’s gigantic.”

St. Louis is consistently going the new MLS route: No well-known PR newcomers

St. Louis CITY SC will be the 29th team to play in the MLS in the 2023 season. The plans of the German sports director Lutz Pfannenstiel are already in full swing and are an example of the path the MLS has taken. With Selmir Pidro (24, FK Sarajevo), Tomas Ostrak (22, 1. FC Köln), João Klauss (25, TSG Hoffenheim) and Roman Bürki (31, BVB), players in their best footballing age have decided to move to the USA , others like Bielefeld’s Joakim Nilsson (28) are likely to follow.

“We want to stay away from older, well-known PR newcomers,” emphasized Pfannenstiel in the TM interview. “We need capable players for the type of football we want to play. It would be counterproductive for us to have a big name playing its own game. Instead, we have to pay attention to the long-term structure and the long-term success of the club.” The MLS has long had much more to offer the players than just the fascination of the American lifestyle.

“The outstanding and innovative training conditions can make every player an even better athlete – many European clubs are now seeing this and are actively scouting in the MLS,” says Ahlrichs. “Furthermore, Americans don’t see themselves as a country of training; they always want to compete with the big players in a global comparison. Moving to MLS now means being part of that journey.”

The Americans are marketing pros and they prove it again and again in MLS.

Of course, the fact that this is the land of “unlimited opportunities” continues to play into the hands of the MLS. “If I said that wasn’t a factor for a lot of European players moving to MLS, I would be lying. Games in New York, LA, Florida or Chicago – not bad, right?” said Ahlrichs. “Besides, professional sport in the USA is pure entertainment. Just the way transfers are announced is great cinema. The Americans are marketing pros and they keep proving that in MLS.”

On the player side, South American professionals were the first to discover the potential for themselves. Instead of going to Europe, talented people in particular are increasingly taking the step towards the MLS, where they have identified a springboard not far from their homeland. “The MLS is no longer a pensioners’ league,” emphasized Valentín Castellanos recently in the TM interview. “A lot of young and talented players come here from South America to improve their game and use MLS as a platform to show themselves.”

MLS is for the 23-year-old forward, who won the 2021 MLS Golden Boot and led New York City FC to their first-ever MLS Cup title, earning them the TM community’s Player of the Season award become more “physical and tactical” in recent years “and I’ve had to work harder every year to improve.”

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