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MLS Season Preview

Chicharito Signing Signals MLS' Growth, Could Draw Liga MX Fans

The Galaxy's offseason signing of F Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez "adds to the profile of MLS becoming a place where top-flight players are either using the league as a stepping stone or a place to finish out the last years of their primes," according to Alex Vejar of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. Hernandez joins a "litany of elite footballers who currently play or have played in the MLS," including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and current LAFC F Carlos Vela. While those players brought "significant interest to MLS from other parts of the world, Hernandez could be someone that surpasses them in that aspect." Liga MX is still the most-watched soccer league in the U.S., and Hernandez’ Mexican heritage "will likely boost interest in him and the league all across the country." MLS has "taken clear steps to compete with Liga MX in various ways." It "started the Leagues Cup last season, which pits MLS and Liga MX teams against each other during the MLS season." And the '20 MLS All-Star game will "feature the best players" from both leagues (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 2/28). USA TODAY's Jim Reineking wrote the Galaxy's signing of Hernandez is "one of the most significant player acquisitions in league history" (USA TODAY, 2/27).

Pizarro, who will play for Inter Miami, was arguably Liga MX’s best player at the time of his departureGETTY IMAGES

POWER SHIFT? YAHOO SPORTS' Graham Ruthven wrote there has been a "recent shift in the dynamic" between MLS and Liga MX. This can be "found in this offseason’s transfers, most symbolically" in Inter Miami CF's signing of MF Rodolfo Pizarro, who "decided to swap" Liga MX club Monterrey for Beckham’s South Florida franchise. That Pizarro, "arguably Liga MX’s best player at the time of his departure, saw a transfer to MLS as a viable career move is significant." Pizarro expressed his belief that MLS "could potentially provide him with a springboard to Europe, something he didn’t have in Liga MX." Pizarro "likely looked at the case" of Newcastle F Miguel Almiron before deciding to leave Liga MX, as the "former Atlanta United star helped establish a transfer market trade route" between MLS and the EPL with his $27M move in '19. Previously, Liga MX stars "would only cross the border for higher wages and a perceived higher standard of life." But if MLS is "truly seen as a better springboard to bigger things, then that could pose something of an existential question to Liga MX" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/25).

BETTER TOGETHER: In London, Tom Dart wrote more likely for MLS is a "closer relationship with Mexico." Dynamo manager Tab Ramos said, "Maybe five or six years from now we’re not going to be talking so much about how close or not close MLS is to Liga MX, but we’re going to be talking about how these leagues are working together to maybe create a much bigger competition that benefits both" (GUARDIAN, 2/27). 

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