In 2007, the United States’ Major League Soccer hit the jackpot.
The LA Galaxy landed the biggest name in the sport: David Beckham. England International was, and still is, a bigger than life football character, known by almost everyone in the world. Whether it is from his football skills or his life off the pitch, he is one of the world's most recognizable faces.
Back then, MLS was the opposite. More than ten seasons into its founding the league was struggling. Attendances had dropped since the first years, and even some franchises folded. The league needed a rebranding, and with the capture of Beckham, they got it.
The designated players
For the next decade or so MLS consistently brought in ageing superstars from Europe to help the league. The Beckham transfer ushered in the Designated Player, or DP, era. A DP is a player whose salary is paid by the league and doesn't count against the salary cap. This rule change brought in more superstars like Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba and Kaka.
The goal was to bring in eye-catching players who the casual fan recognized from abroad and then draw their attention to the club. And for the most part, it was very successful.
Clubs who sign big DPs see rises in revenue. MLS began to reach out to a different audience and put themselves on the map. The LA Galaxy even retained the trick, when they signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
However, with all the success came some issues. The ageing superstars didn't always deliver on the pitch. Most of them were towards the end of their careers and often only stayed for a year or two. They were temporary solutions. Simeotanousley, MLS began to gain a reputation as a retirement league. The place where washed-up footballers would go for one last payday before calling it quits. Suppose MLS wanted to be considered one of the best football leagues in the world, they would need to change.
Selling to exist: From Almiron to Davies
It has been nearly 14 years since Beckham signed, but about four since Miguel Almiron signed with the expansion franchise Atlanta United. The Paraguayan had impressed for Lanus in Argentina when he caught the eye of Atlanta United's front office. He was signed for €7.5m million and called a young DP, a term the league would get used to quickly.
The new phase was to buy young talent and then sell them on for much more after some time. The ageing superstars would still come and fill seats, but the young DP brought in revenue from a different angle: sales.
Clubs need to sell players to stay afloat. Even the most prominent clubs sell their fringe players for some extra cash, but for MLS clubs it is a necessity. Whether supporters like it or not, football is a business, and executives are always looking for new sources of income. Now that most MLS franchises had a stable fanbase, it was time to move on.
MLS looked across the world and saw how leagues with smaller stadiums and TV deals stayed financially stable. The Eredivisie of the Netherlands is a perfect example. A much smaller country with a smaller TV deal but clubs like Ajax, Feyenoord, and AZ Alkmaar still report millions more than one would expect. The main reason for this is: exporting. Dutch clubs have mastered the art of developing players and selling them on for much higher than they paid.
They invest in youth, whether it is a homegrown talent or young players from across the globe. Look at some of the biggest and most well-known footballers around and check their footballing roots. Luis Suarez got his start in Europe for Groningen, moved to Ajax and then was sold to Liverpool for nearly four times what they had paid. On the other side of the youth spectrum, PSV Eindhoven recently sold Sam Lammers to Atalanta for more than $10 million even though he barely broke into the senior squad. MLS saw this as well as the same structure in Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, and Sweden and wanted in.
Now, let's return to Miguel Almiron. Almiron had two very successful years at Atlanta United, lighting up the league with his immense technical ability and seemingly telecentric partnership with Josef Martinez. He led the Five Stripes to MLS Cup glory in 2018, and subsequently caught the eye of clubs across the pond. Arsenal and Tottenham expressed interest before Newcastle United made him their club-record signing on Deadline Day in January 2019 for €24m. Almiron has shown flashes of brilliance with the Geordies even being their leading goalscorer across all competitions for the 2019-20 season.
On the other side of the spectrum, the MLS academies have grown significantly, since they were made mandatory more than a decade ago. At BabaGol, we consistently highlighted the work of FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls. Still, it was a Canadian export that shined the light on the vital work the academies are doing.
Alphonso Davies is one of the most exciting football personalities around. Still just a teenager, he has remarkable rags to riches story. He is very entertaining off the field, and on the field, he is a starting, treble-winning left-back for Bayern Munich. A European champion that his footballing career took off in the MLS system. He joined the Whitecaps Residency program at 14. Less than two years later he made his MLS debut at age 15.
Over the next two seasons, MLS supporters watched this phenom's career take off like a rocket. During the 2018 season, he caught the attention of some of Europe's biggest clubs. Before the end of the season, the Whitecaps and the German champions agreed on a large fee that would see Davies move to Munich at the end of the season, soon after he turned 18.
Davies wasn't the first MLS Academy graduate to go overseas but the first of this magnitude, fee and success-wise. The Davies deal puts MLS academies, as well as Canadian and US football, on the map in terms of development.
The end product of MLS academies. Alphono Davies of Bayern Munich (Photo: Humanrace campaign)
A true plan, not a spontaneous solution
Soon after the Davies sale, MLS Commissioner Don Garber said that "We need to become more of a selling league". The change in focus comes from a financial standpoint but is beneficial for the league as a whole. Fans will now be able to point to superstars in Europe and say that they saw them before they got big. There is almost a no greater pride than seeing one of your own, succeed on the biggest stage.
The dramatic change in MLS culture will shed new light on how the world sees the league and North American football as a whole. In the 2020 summer window alone we have seen how the league is going to look for years to come. Only recently, Atlanta sold Gonzalo Pity Martinez, whom they bought from River Plate as a replacement for Almiron. Martinez was the best player in South America for 2018 but failed to have a valid impact in Atlanta. Nevertheless, Atlanta made a small profit of this failed signing, by selling him to Saudi side Al-Nassr Riyadh. In the academies, things are also progressing. FC Dallas' graduate, Reggie Cannon, moved to Portugal. Luis Binks was sold to Bologna from the Montreal Impact, less than a year after signing from the Tottenham Hotspurs youth system.
The new MLS will have talent from across the globe future and former superstars and will be flooded with scouts from Europe's top clubs for years to come.
