Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
Speaking before both MLS Cup and the recent SuperDraft, MLS commissioner Don Garber talked about how he wanted MLS to be a “selling league”. For its entire history, MLS seemed to operate independent of the global soccer marketplace not just because of the league’s structure, but because of how it wanted to be perceived at home, especially in comparison to North America’s “big four” leagues.
23 years after its foundation, MLS is now more than certainly what Don Garber and many around MLS wanted it to be: a selling league. Every day this offseason, someone in the league has made a move that proves this is the new normal. And it’s absolutely a good thing.
Most of MLS’ offseason orbit has spun around Miguel Almiron’s sale. After rumors, bluff, hemming and hawing, Almiron will be sold to Newcastle United for around $27 million, a record outgoing fee for MLS and a record incoming fee for Newcastle. This comes on the heels on Alphonso Davies’ blockbuster move to Bayern Munich which went for all told around $20 million in potential fees. Those two moves turned out to be the tip of a large iceberg that is only now showing its true depth.
DC United’s dynamo Luciano Acosta is on the move, perhaps for a fee as large as $10 million to an English club or perhaps PSG. Zack Steffen’s move to Manchester City this summer could be worth up to $14 million all told. Orlando City sold one of their DP’s in Yoshi Yotun to Cruz Azul for $4 million, and Montreal Impact sold Alejandro Silva to Paraguayan club Olimipia for around $3 million. Tyler Adams moved in the Red Bull family with a fee involved, Toronto FC got around $3 million for Sebastian Giovinco, and FC Dallas sold academy product Chris Richards to Bayern Munich for up to $2 million, and there are perhaps even more coming.
In the past, MLS teams held on to their key players and only viewed them as assets in an on the field and marketing sense. Now, clubs are far more willing to view their prized players as monetary assets with selling value, and not a moment too soon. Perhaps it took Atlanta United supersizing this approach to get other clubs to consider the same basic idea, especially as some teams really ramp up their academy set ups and start buying younger DP’s instead of the older types the rule was introduced for. It’s no surprise then that the biggest controversy of the MLS offseason also has to do with this specific kind of asset management too.
New Union sporting director Ernst Tanner doesn’t want to lose Mark McKenzie to the US U-20 World Cup set up because of how valuable he is to the Union first team. But a good U-20 World Cup showing and the Union could easily cash in for far more than they’d get for a very good player right now. Many other clubs will be sending players to that tournament and perhaps see a similar uptick in value for young players who could move for big cash this summer.
Being a selling league is not a bad thing for MLS. More eyeballs are coming to the league than ever before, realizing not just its quality, but how much value there is in the player pool. Younger players, especially from South America and other CONCACAF nations view MLS as a shop window for Europe for which they can take advantage of, and with multiple examples of domestic and foreign players doing just that, the pathway gets that little bit easier every time. And with every successful export, clubs in MLS may be willing to invest more heavily in that pipeline, knowing the success it could bring not just on the field but in the balance sheets.
At almost every turn this offseason, a club has received an offer for a player that is too good to pass up, and they moved said player on. That is a notable shift in the approach for front offices around the league, even as more cash comes in to the general pot. Some clubs are better at it than others, but it takes innovators to change the paradigm, and whether it be on the Almiron/Davies scale or the Richards/Adams scale, MLS clubs need to be in this business. If MLS clubs want to be competitive in their hemisphere, let alone the globe, they must be successful in the world market first. With this offseason, most clubs are showing that they get it, and a rising tide raises all boats.
One could now argue that the best shop window in the Western Hemisphere is now MLS for jumping to Europe. No league has positioned itself quite like MLS; even Liga MX and the Argentine League haven’t quite been able to pull off what MLS has this winter. Up until this point, MLS outgoing transfers may not have totaled $100 million in the league’s history. This winter, they may hit $100 million before the window shuts. That is a seismic shift, but one that is going to make this league better in the long run.
However, and why ever it started, MLS’ new goals are clear: they want to be a selling league, and its clubs are obliging by making smart business decisions at every turn. While it might make for some short-term pain, but the long term gain for the league and its clubs is far too good to pass up.
