With the recent announcement that Steven Gerrard is off to the US to play in the MLS for LA Galaxy next season it has raised the debate as to whether America is still just a stopping off point for a top quality British player to wind down his playing days, and for a mediocre player to apply his trade, or realistically could current players for the International British teams play over there?
Since the league reformed as the MLS (it was previously known as the North American Soccer League NASL)) in 1994 at least 82 British players have played in the league, but how many of them can you really name?
Naturally the name that jumps out is David Beckham, and we also have Jermaine Defoe and Robbie Keane in recent years, and Frank Lampard is technically signed to the New York City FC, although we are all well aware of what has happened since he signed, but that might be about it.
It would appear a major stumbling block is that fact that any player of International quality will struggle to stay on the radar for their International managers.
David Beckham only achieved 14 of his 115 international caps in his 5 years he played with the Galaxy.
The most notable recent addition to add fuel to the fire is England striker Jermain Defoe. He played and scored in the qualifying campaign to get England to the World Cup last year, but after his move in January to MLS side Toronto FC he hasn’t played for the country again, and was overlooked for the World Cup itself in Brazil.
Robbie Keane may be the one exception, as has gone from strength to strength playing with the Republic Of Ireland whilst playing for LA Galaxy. He is Ireland s all time top scorer with 65 goals and at the age of 34 looks certain to be adding more caps to his total that currently stands at 138.
Now whereas Gerrard and Lampard are at the tail end of the careers, and have already retired from International duty there are some players in the prime of their career over there.
An example of this would be last season the joint top scorer in the MLS; Bradley Wright-Phillips. Detractors of the league would point to the fact that his final games in the English league were for the likes of Plymouth, Charlton and Brentford in the lower echelons of the system.
Also in the top scorers list is 24 year old Englishman Dom Dwyer, but he never actually played a game in the English league having been released from Norwich City as a 15 year old.
The league needs to make itself appealing to the players in the prime of the careers, and for that there are a couple of questions that need to be asked.
Has the MLS fully captured the hearts of the American public? Again people would argue for and against it.
Obviously they aren’t going to break into the top quartet of US Sports, but figures show it is quite comfortably in 5th place, and that is no mean feat considering it has beaten off competition from Golf, Tennis, Motor Racing, and Pro Wrestling.
Also if you look at average attendances the MLS would be the 6th most supported league in Europe with just under 20’000, ahead of the top leagues in Portugal, Holland, Russia, Belgium, etc.
Will the salary cap that the league has in place put players off? You would think no, as for all there is a salary cap each MLS team are allowed to make 3 player exceptions who do not need to adhere to it.
The salary capping does make for a more secure league though because they are not spending more than they earn. Something that cannot be said for most leagues in Europe.
Uefa have introduced the Financial Fair Play regulations to try to combat this in recent seasons, and that might also work in the MLS’s favour, as it may well start driving some players abroad where they can get more money.
The final question that needs to be asked is do we really want our International players going abroad to play whilst in the prime of their careers?
19 of the current 23 members of the US team currently play in the MLS, and they faired better than any of the British teams in their 2014 World Cup campaign, so maybe we really need to keep everyone on home soil.