MLS warns Neymar: “We don’t need to bring in a renowned player at the end of his career”

The mls is not a retirement league for soccer stars, warned the commissioner of the North American competition in response to Neymarwho declared that he was seduced by playing in the United States for at least one season when his contract with PSG ends (2025).

In his press appearance prior to the start of the new Major League Soccer campaign, Don Garber referred to ‘Ney”s comments and seemed somewhat uncomfortable.

“The championship there is short, so you have three or four months of vacation (…) It allows you to play a lot more years,” said the 30-year-old Brazilian star in dialogue with Ronaldo Nazario, in the podcast and YouTube program ‘phenomena’.

Asked about the willingness expressed by stars like Neymar or Messi to one day play in MLS, Commissioner Garber stressed that the league is past the days of needing to attract attention through retiring big names.

“We don’t need to bring in a big-name player at the end of his career because he’s decided he wants to retire from MLS,” he said. “If they don’t come here to play and contribute in a meaningful way to their teams and our league, and respect the league and its fans, then we don’t want them in MLS,” he said.

“We want our story to be about young players coming here in their early days or in the prime of their careers and making our league their choice,” Garber said.

Messi, 34, and Neymar’s teammate at PSG, also said a few months ago that he was attracted by the possibility of playing in the United States in the future, an idea also expressed in the last week by Colombian James Rodríguez, 30.

Garber put the Swiss Xherdan Shaqiri, recently signed by the Chicago Fire at the age of 30, as an example that more and more figures choose to play in the United States in a moment of fullness. “I’m proud that we’re bringing in players 30 and younger,” he said.

The commissioner, however, recognized the value contributed by some stars who practically hung up their boots in MLS, such as David Beckham, and other veterans who arrived with a competitive mindset.

In the latter case, Garber lamented that Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s arrival at the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2018 was viewed differently than when he returned to AC Milan a year later, when “nobody said he was going to retire to Italy.” “Frankly, I felt insulted by it,” he said.

In addition to Shaqiri, other world figures who will join the MLS this season are the Italian Lorenzo Insigne (Toronto FC) and the Brazilian Douglas Costa (Galaxy).