As we approach the summer transfer window, nobody is quite certain what level of impact
the COVID-19 pandemic will have on player movement. Whatever the outcome may be, though,
MLS’s changing priorities make a move for Gareth Bale – or any other high-priced European
moving towards their career’s twilight – unlikely.
The league has changed its definition of the ideal designated player. The “Beckham Rule”
originally seemed like a mechanism to give the world’s former finest a North American
swan song. David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Freddie Ljungberg and others took
up residence in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Seattle. Quickly, however,
MLS clubs came to a consensus that simply signing a star wouldn’t bring success on
and off the pitch.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the players’ agents and clubs won’t still try reaching
out to MLS teams. Gareth Bale has in fact already been offered to at least one Eastern
Conference club in the past, but was swiftly turned down, sources have told The Athletic.
The reality is that the days of paying over $7 million annually for a player with little
return-on-investment potential are more or less over.
Over recent years, designated players have become younger. In 2014, the average new Designated
Player was 28.5 years old. In 2020, that figure stands at 25.3 years old, and even that is
up from 2018’s 23.3. Increasingly, the competition’s biggest stars aren’t just their for an Indian
Summer.
That’s partly by design. In 2014, the league created its “young designated player”
rule to incentivise more forward-thinking acquisitions. While many clubs had mixed results
with their first young DPs, the gold standard came in late 2016, when expansion club Atlanta
United paid $8 million to Lanus, in Argentina, for versatile forward Miguel Almiron. Two
years and two MLS Cup victories later, he was sold to Newcastle United of the Premier
League for around $25.7 million.
Rather than being a way to overpay for a fading star, MLS clubs were encouraged to see the
value of investing in players on the rise. In February 2020, the league also adjusted
its roster rules, decreasing the percentage of transfer fees it retained when franchises
sold non-homegrown players to foreign clubs. It also allowed clubs to then invest more
of that money into their own salary budget.
The recent comings and goings of Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic suggest a different
trend. However, by virtue of their star power and marketability, both players were impactful
in unusual ways. They are exceptions. In reality, very few players can offer such return-on-investment,
both on the pitch and through sponsorships, ticket and merchandise sales.
Didier Drogba and Kaka were recent success stories in Montreal and Orlando. Another is
Javier Hernandez, who made his MLS debut for LA Galaxy in February as Ibrahimovic’s replacement.
With a $6m annual salary, he is the league’s highest paid player.
Why Hernandez and not Bale, or someone like Luis Suarez or Philippe Coutinho?
Because Hernandez is still the biggest star in Mexican football, and Liga MX continues
to get better viewing figures than MLS across the United States, or any European league
for that matter. He may be older than most MLS teams would like their starting centre-forward
to be, but his signing was highly logical – both in terms of Hernandez’s sporting
value, and his capacity to divert attention away from Galaxy’s neighbours, Los Angeles’
FC, and their own high-profile Mexican forward, Carlos Vela.
Vela has been the ideal long-term designated player. Like Josef Martinez of Atlanta and
Sebastian Giovinco, formerly of Toronto FC. All three joined MLS near or in their prime,
and with something left to prove after failing to make their mark at the top levels in Europe.
Considering all they’ve accomplished in their careers, it’s unlikely that Gareth
Bale – or any other highly decorated 31-year-old – would be able to replicate that same dynamic.
If he’d even get the opportunity.
Following the Almiron sale, Atlanta are using all three of their Designated Players spots
on 20-something South American attackers: Josef Martinez, of course, but also Ezequiel
Barco and Gonzalo “Pity” Martinez. Most MLS teams now have their sights fixed on similar
targets, if perhaps not quite on the same scale.
Even New York City FC, who paid handsomely for the dwindling talents of David Villa,
Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard, haven’t signed an international star since 2018. In
fact, one-ime Arsenal prospect Gedion Zelalem – now 23 – is likely the only player most
Europeans will have heard of.
It’s a very different world. Outside the MLS, of course, but also inside. The competition
has some way to go to become a true, trusted feeder league, but that transition is underway,
with American soccer no longer an easy final destination, or somewhere to collect a quick buck.