http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...eryone-screams
Michael Bradley back in MLS making four-times his Eurotrash "salary"..
A lot of folks are saying that this signifies the increasing irrelevance of American players as they are having to come back to the US to play professionally after essentially becoming bench warmers in Europe. Some are predicting doom and gloom for American
soccer but perhaps the opposite is true?
While Klinnsman is right to talk about American players needing to step up and compete in Europe I'm not so sure this is the only way.. The NBA is a great example of what can happen domestically. Today almost
20% (THAT'S ONE IN FIVE PLAYERS!!) of the current NBA players are international and were NOT born in the US. Almost all of these played in the basketball leagues from their respective countries. Further, FIBA is getting increasingly competitive and many of the NBA's rising stars and solid glue guys/role players are from outside the US. Including some marquee names like Pau Gasol (Spain), Tony Parker (France), Nicolas Batum (France), Andrew Bogut (Australia), Goran Drajic (Slovenia), Omer Asik (Turkey), Thabo Sefalosha (Switzerland)..
Why am I talking about basketball on the futbol thread? No, not merely to troll !@#$%! (as
fun as that is).. Its to point out how international competition in basketball has evolved and progressed in a short time (twenty years or so).. A lot of these players didn't start in the NBA, they worked they way up to it, and now several countries like France, Spain, and Australia are developing some competitive domestic players who compete well in the NBA. So MLS isn't necessarily a dead end, perhaps in a short time with focus it can becoming more competitive internationally. If Spain and France can become basketball powerhouses, surely the US can become a futbol nation as well.
I see this glass as half full here.. Yeah, a lot of American players are having to return from Europe, but on the plus side they are making way more money here which is a good sign of where MLS is going. For example, even ten years ago most international players wanted to play exclusively in the NBA in order to make more money, but now you see a lot of washed up NBA veterans going overseas to obscure places like Turkey to make MORE money. Its a sign that international basketball is getting better. So as MLS can afford to pay higher salaries, it can be a sign of things to come. Can the MLS become something competitive with Euro leagues? I think so.. after all there are currently over a hundred
American born players playing in Euro leagues, obviously American talent isn't that shitty if these boys can make it there..