In an interview with the Guardian, MLS commissioner Don Garber suggested that the Egyptian soccer executive who urged Mohamed Salah to avoid the league should watch Lionel Messi starring for Inter Miami.
Garber’s comments come after Egypt’s national team director, Ibrahim Hassan, said Salah should stay in Europe when he leaves Liverpool as MLS is “too far out of the spotlight”. Hassan later added that if Salah “does not receive offers from Europe, then a move to the Saudi league would be a good option.”
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It is an opinion Garber said he hadn’t heard until being read the comments by the Guardian.
“Well, that’s the first time that I’ve ever heard anything like that,” Garber said when interviewed at league meetings in Sarasota, Florida on Monday. “Leo Messi is the most popular player in the world. He was, and he still is. I’d be happy to send an Apple subscription to the head of the Egyptian FA so he can watch as many Messi games as he’d like.”
This is far from the first time that a senior soccer figure has questioned MLS’s quality. In 2015, Sebastian Giovinco left Juventus and was an instant smash with Toronto FC, leading the once-moribund club to three MLS Cup finals in four seasons. But in 2016 Gian Piero Ventura left Giovinco out of his Italy squads, saying “he plays in a league that doesn’t matter much”.
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MLS has also proven a popular pick for veteran players trying to round into form possible ahead of World Cups. As Wales prepared for their first game at the 2022 World Cup, the team’s manager, Rob Page, said Gareth Bale joining Los Angeles FC in the preceding summer had “been the right move” for the player. Colombia’s James Rodríguez is hoping to replicate that feat with Minnesota United ahead of this summer’s tournament, while Brazil goalkeeper Júlio César signed a short-term deal with Toronto FC before the 2014 World Cup.
“I think that [Hassan’s] point of view is very indicative of what MLS deals with as we develop as an aspiring major player on the world stage,” Garber said on Monday. “I can remember, not that long ago, Mexican national team coaches saying: ‘If you’re in MLS, you’re not going to play for our national team.’ That’s not the case today. We have national team players that have played in Major League Soccer, and we’ve got two or three players that are playing for…
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