Nothing escapes the fiercest of scrutiny in Major League Soccer.
New franchise? Will it work? Standard of play? Is it good enough?
Big names, but aren’t they after one last mammoth payday? The debates over the growth of soccer in North America are natural.
After all, MLS soon will enter its 21st year – a baby compared to their older cousins who live in the Premier League and La Liga.
Yet, while players come and go in England and Spain for exorbitant fees with utter nonchalance, every major transfer comes with escalating stages of worry, paranoia and, in some cases, huge swathes of negativity.
So #LAGalaxy do sign Ashley Cole, Jelle Van Damme, Nigel DeJong. They arrive with little approval, lower expectations. #dangerous.
— Maximiliano Bretos (@mbretosESPN) January 31, 2016Four recent developments are cases in point.
No sooner had Ashley Cole’s move from Roma to LA Galaxy been announced, the sceptics already were mounting their high horses. Why, they cried, does MLS need someone like the former Arsenal and Chelsea full-back who, off-field controversies aside, was a consistently excellent performer for club and county?
He’s just in it for the money. What about the youngsters? I could go on.
Yes, Cole’s best days are probably behind him. An ankle injury ensures the 35 year-old is edging closer to retirement.
Yet, here is a star from Europe coming to the US on $300,000 a year (Cole will not occupy a designated player spot in Los Angeles with Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard and Gio dos Santos already in situ) whose presence will help global awareness rather than hinder it.
Furthermore, and perhaps even more intriguingly, with the uninspiring quality of the defending, thanks to virtually all the star names operating in midfield or attack, Cole’s spell actually could help educate those coming through the ranks.
Will the man who once fired an air rifle at Chelsea’s training ground be a standard bearer to spearhead Don Garber’s push to
position MLS as an elite competition? Of course not.
If anything, Garber’s desperation to see his baby fully mature by 2022 has added pressure. But, if players of Cole’s ilk are playing on these shores, more will follow.
There has to be a mix of stars and youth to keep interest thriving.
It’s certainly not the retirement home many believe it is. Didier Drogba, Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Frank Lampard and Gerrard remain the best known attractions.
Statistics reveal the average age of designated players has now dropped to an encouraging 27.6, while boasting eight players under 21 who had played at least 1,000 minutes (more than 16 hours).
That is on par with the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga.
Drogba’s decision to remain in Montreal rather than take up a coaching post at Chelsea has also been scrutinised. The Ivorian is the antithesis for MLS devotees who want to see their competition thrive.
A veteran on a shedload of cash who will come and go in an instant. A player taking the place of someone younger and with more
potential to thrive.
After 12 goals in 14 games at the back end of last season, few can argue his move wasn’t a success. A quick fix isn’t necessarily bad.
“I think it’s important for us to start planning the post-Didier era,” said Impact President Joey Saputo.
“We caught lightning in a bottle with Didier, but it’s not only one player that makes this organisation.”
At the other end of the scale, however, scrutiny reigns supreme. Matt Miazga’s surprise move from the New York Red Bulls to Chelsea instantly sparked moans and groans about the suitability of Stamford Bridge for the highly rated US international defender.
Understandable angst about the amount of playing time the 20-year-old will get in West London is fair enough.
Yet, for some to suggest it’s a bad move is nonsense. No young player in his right mind would turn down a move to the Premier League champions, and his departure should be seen as positive for MLS. Jordan Morris, a 21-year-old recent university graduate already tipped as the new bright young
thing, recently snubbed a move to Werder Bremen and opted to sign for Seattle Sounders.
Jurgen Klinsmann would have wanted Morris to experience his homeland, so desperate is the German for more members of his national squad to test themselves in Europe because, as it stands, MLS simply isn’t strong enough to ensure international results will improve by everyone staying home.
Nevertheless, soccer here remains in a thoroughly healthy position right now. All the moaners and groaners need to remember that.
