Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: MLS, Football, Major League Soccer
George Priestman
Philadelphia Union's head coach Jim Curtin has claimed that the Major Soccer League could be the best league in the world by 2026.
The American league has been growing year on year in prosperity and is attracting more stars to their shores than ever before.
But given the strength of the leagues in South America and Europe, it still pails in comparison, despite some star names.
Advert
Typically, the top names have emigrated over to the States at the end of their career's, examples include Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard, but we've also seen Ballon d'Or winning Kaka make the move over.
The mania with America began with Pele back in the 1970's as he made the move from Santos to the New York cosmos and became an even bigger global star in the process.
As we sit here in 2022, the MLS is by far as big as it's ever been, with the standard of players and facilities at an all-time high, this is something that could help grow even more, according to Curtin.
"The stadiums, the facilities, the players that are coming here, the coaches that are coming here, why is it so crazy that by 2026 this isn't the top league in the world," Curtin said.
Advert
There are plenty of examples of American coaches around Europe, with Jesse Marsch hoping to keep Leeds United up in the Premier League as the only one from his country in England's top league.
"I'm going to be the guy that's going to get in trouble for saying this, but what if this is the league," Curtin added, while noting that he "would love to test myself if it's the right situation" in Europe.
In recent years, we've seen David Beckham create Inter Miami CF and he's been extremely keen to help grow the sport in that part of the world.
Advert
We also saw Gonzalo Higuain retire there following a short spell, with bigger and bigger names slowly starting to pop up on the continent.
But Beckham is looking to use his influence to bring some of the very world's best over, with Lionel Messi linked with a move in 2023, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo.
One of the more eyebrow-raising transfers in recent years has been Lorenzo Insigne turn down offers from all over Europe in favour of a move to Toronto this year - he was only 30 at the time.
The only other real certain names are former Juventus midfielder Federico Bernadeschi and Carlos Vela, but there's a big drop-off in big names, even if the overall level has risen.
Advert
But even just going off the pre-season games between Barcelona and Inter Miami - there's certainly a very long way to go for the MLS.