Messi in Miami

[Bebestation]

Are we really still doing this? I remember you posting that if Messi won something with Argentina it would shut you up. When he won Copa America you shifted the goalposts to the WC. Then he won that. So?

I dont argue that he is others goats & the majority’s GOAT but i always will comment about how i personally feel as my opinion.
Loyalty to barcelona was the only excuse I really had for him for not being tested in a tougher/different league in his whole career to feed my anxiety about his adaptive ability (something you don’t have as a fan who views him as the best of all time, whilst it’s things I value more as my GOAT - more so than things like technique which can be heavily influenced by team & league and team mates or manager IMO).

Then watching him in Ligue 1 not helping PSG to the success he was bought for as his only other daily competition took me to places again.He hasn’t been successful in the CL for ages and all of that success came under an era of Pep +- 1 year, the best Possesion football of all time, Xavi, Iniesta & then Messi as a cherry on top of the tastiest cake.
That started deteriorating soon as each one of them left even for Barcelona in that order. The success literally dropped in that order. Xavi & Iniesta we’re loyal to Barcelona & helped a non historical winning country like Spain win the World Cup but Messi wasn’t loyal so I analyze him outside Barcelona & his ability at other clubs more.

I just don’t see him 100% having the same trajectory under a different manager, league or club that might have played different tactics like countering, not ever trying out things like being a false 9 or even having a deep lying playmaker like Xavi (Mourinho) Even under a manager like SAF - Messi could have spent his growing years playing solely as a left winger providing for a striker like RVN & never getting the chance to play as a false 9/cf because SAF didn’t know or abide with that tactic.

Then I find out that Barcelona’s period of success under Pep could also be influenced by paying referees & then my anxiety still grew.
Anyway, I don’t hate him, not one bit - and I do think he is the most successful player of all time that is rightfully regarded as the GOAT by the majority, the most technical player succeeding in the most technical tested league but he is personally not my GOAT because I feel like he didn’t take my personal tests (everyone has their own tests) where he could have grown or adapted in a total different way to the philosophy of Barcelona.

Anyway, no one is going to change each other’s minds even if I’m in a minority. This is boring to talk about as it’s old and all I do is occasionally make a comment to show that there still is viewers of the sport that believes Messi is not rated rightly or accurately in their eyes - for simply not taking their personal tests. Like few men who might not like a woman that the majority would die for, which is plausible isn’t it? Simply because they like different beauty assets on their woman.
Hope you enjoy him whilst you can & hope he continues to kill with Inter Miami in the USA to have a beautiful highlights reel for our next generation.

 

[adexkola]

People tend to want the best playing the best. If Giannis or Tatum decided to go and play in Germany, most basketball fans would lament that scenario.

He's played in Europe for the vast majority of his career, it's diminishing returns at this point.

And basketball fans are less snobby than football fans, if Giannis moved to the EuroLeague I think they'd be more understanding of whatever his reasons were.

 

[Bebestation]

@Gehrman

I think the simplest way to put it is:

I never say he isnt the GOAT (the majority think he is) but all I’m ever saying is that he isn’t my personal GOAT.

We all analyse or value things in different ways, that’s what makes us sole personality and I realize I’m in a very big minority where I could be very well wrong.

 

[Traub]

Very true. I hope for beckham’s sake that the new stadium near the airport works out, but putting a team in Miami was not the best business decision, in my opinion. I live in south Miami, and the current stadium is like an hour away.

Miami are meant to get a new stadium in 2025 in Downtown, the fact it's a 40min give or take drive to FT Lauderdale is a big factor too, it's hot as hell down here (I'm currently in Miami) and even Ocean Drive is slow, I was at a Fall out Boy concert yesterday albeit up in West Palm Beach and I was sweating buckets, let alone going to a Football game at one of the worst times to watch a game

I have experienced a lot of passionate fans though, it has a very unique atmosphere and very Latin influenced which going forward will help, I think once the stadium moves to downtown the avg attendance will shoot up, I did kinda hope they would had built a stadium near the most historic touristy areas of the city but hey ho, next to the airport works too.

Excuse my ignorance, but why can't they play where the Dolphins play? Is the stadium too big?
Also, aren't there some smaller college grounds they could use in Miami? Just seems non-sensical to play so far away.

 

[Gehrman]

@Gehrman

I think the simplest way to put it is:

I never say he isnt the GOAT (the majority think he is) but all I’m ever saying is that he isn’t my personal GOAT.

He doesnt have to be. You just said you would shut if Messi did X, Y and Z and he did those things. Now we are replacing the whole "he never did it in the pl" with he should have signed for Al-fecking-Hilal

And i still havnt found an outlet that ranks the Saudi league above the MLS.

 

[Zehner]

He doesnt have to be. You just said you would shut if Messi did X, Y and Z and he did those things. Now we are replacing the whole "he never did it in the pl" with he should have signed for Al-fecking-Hilal

If you ever catch yourself agreeing with this guy on anything, it is time to seriously reconsider your opinion. Few posters in here are as consistently completely wrong and biased on football topics as he is

 

[Zehner]

I wonder if Messi can just switch into a highly competitive mode when he plays for Argentina. I'm happy for the MLS but to me it doesn't seem as if the league really pushes him and I imagine this could accelerate his decline

 

[Gehrman]

If you ever catch yourself agreeing with this guy on anything, it is time to seriously reconsider your opinion. Few posters in here are as consistently completely wrong and biased on football topics as he is

Zehner you are a knowledgeable guy on football. Where is the MLS ranked globally or roughly at least. Who's reliable on this?

 

[Ish]

Should have gone to the saudi league as it looks more competitive but doesnt surprise me because he only played in the worlds best league for 3-5 years at max.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Thanks for highlighting this post Ish as it gave me a good chuckle

 

[Ish]

Thanks for highlighting this post Ish as it gave me a good chuckle

It warmed me with a chuckle on this cold Cape Town morning as well, amol

 

[Zehner]

Zehner you are a knowledgeable guy on football. Where is the MLS ranked globally or roughly at least. Who's reliable on this?

I read an article on a statistical comparison of European and American leagues somewhere a few years ago based on the few matches they have against each other and remember the Brazilian league was quite decent (5th or something like that?) but no idea where the MLS ranked. And the data is obviously not that reliable because the club world cup etc are rather better friendlies. So in essence, I have no clue wouldn't even rule out that the Saudi league is indeed better. But Bebe would claim it is even if it wasn't

 

[Henandez14]

I dont argue that he is others goats & the majority’s GOAT but i always will comment about how i personally feel as my opinion.
Loyalty to barcelona was the only excuse I really had for him for not being tested in a tougher/different league in his whole career to feed my anxiety about his adaptive ability (something you don’t have as a fan who views him as the best of all time, whilst it’s things I value more as my GOAT - more so than things like technique which can be heavily influenced by team & league and team mates or manager IMO).

Then watching him in Ligue 1 not helping PSG to the success he was bought for as his only other daily competition took me to places again.He hasn’t been successful in the CL for ages and all of that success came under an era of Pep +- 1 year, the best Possesion football of all time, Xavi, Iniesta & then Messi as a cherry on top of the tastiest cake.
That started deteriorating soon as each one of them left even for Barcelona in that order. The success literally dropped in that order. Xavi & Iniesta we’re loyal to Barcelona & helped a non historical winning country like Spain win the World Cup but Messi wasn’t loyal so I analyze him outside Barcelona & his ability at other clubs more.

I just don’t see him 100% having the same trajectory under a different manager, league or club that might have played different tactics like countering, not ever trying out things like being a false 9 or even having a deep lying playmaker like Xavi (Mourinho) Even under a manager like SAF - Messi could have spent his growing years playing solely as a left winger providing for a striker like RVN & never getting the chance to play as a false 9/cf because SAF didn’t know or abide with that tactic.

Then I find out that Barcelona’s period of success under Pep could also be influenced by paying referees & then my anxiety still grew.
Anyway, I don’t hate him, not one bit - and I do think he is the most successful player of all time that is rightfully regarded as the GOAT by the majority, the most technical player succeeding in the most technical tested league but he is personally not my GOAT because I feel like he didn’t take my personal tests (everyone has their own tests) where he could have grown or adapted in a total different way to the philosophy of Barcelona.

Anyway, no one is going to change each other’s minds even if I’m in a minority. This is boring to talk about as it’s old and all I do is occasionally make a comment to show that there still is viewers of the sport that believes Messi is not rated rightly or accurately in their eyes - for simply not taking their personal tests. Like few men who might not like a woman that the majority would die for, which is plausible isn’t it? Simply because they like different beauty assets on their woman.
Hope you enjoy him whilst you can & hope he continues to kill with Inter Miami in the USA to have a beautiful highlights reel for our next generation.

That's analogous to us as a species questioning our own existence.

All those factors listed above are what make him Messi. For better or for worse.

I could say that if Ronaldo didn't move to Madrid he would have been a merely good player (like Kaka or Henry) and not GOAT tier. And I would be probably right. But that's a meaningless statement because it didn't happen, as with a billion billion other things. The Madrid move, Fergie's faith etc (along with the poor transfer decisions at the end of his career) are what make him Ronaldo. For better or for worse.

The same goes for any other player. Mario Balotelli could have been a world beater if he wasn't a Knob head. But he is Mario Balotelli because he's a Knob head. For better or for worse.

I just find the whole didn't play in PL thing to be in extremely bad faith. People have proved to be able to come up with any number of reasons why he isn't the best (i.e. the world cup is the pinnacle of the sport until Messi wins it) but I guess that's just why he is Messi.

 

[Andrade]

I dont argue that he is others goats & the majority’s GOAT but i always will comment about how i personally feel as my opinion.
Loyalty to barcelona was the only excuse I really had for him for not being tested in a tougher/different league in his whole career to feed my anxiety about his adaptive ability (something you don’t have as a fan who views him as the best of all time, whilst it’s things I value more as my GOAT - more so than things like technique which can be heavily influenced by team & league and team mates or manager IMO).

Then watching him in Ligue 1 not helping PSG to the success he was bought for as his only other daily competition took me to places again.He hasn’t been successful in the CL for ages and all of that success came under an era of Pep +- 1 year, the best Possesion football of all time, Xavi, Iniesta & then Messi as a cherry on top of the tastiest cake.
That started deteriorating soon as each one of them left even for Barcelona in that order. The success literally dropped in that order. Xavi & Iniesta we’re loyal to Barcelona & helped a non historical winning country like Spain win the World Cup but Messi wasn’t loyal so I analyze him outside Barcelona & his ability at other clubs more.

I just don’t see him 100% having the same trajectory under a different manager, league or club that might have played different tactics like countering, not ever trying out things like being a false 9 or even having a deep lying playmaker like Xavi (Mourinho) Even under a manager like SAF - Messi could have spent his growing years playing solely as a left winger providing for a striker like RVN & never getting the chance to play as a false 9/cf because SAF didn’t know or abide with that tactic.

Then I find out that Barcelona’s period of success under Pep could also be influenced by paying referees & then my anxiety still grew.
Anyway, I don’t hate him, not one bit - and I do think he is the most successful player of all time that is rightfully regarded as the GOAT by the majority, the most technical player succeeding in the most technical tested league but he is personally not my GOAT because I feel like he didn’t take my personal tests (everyone has their own tests) where he could have grown or adapted in a total different way to the philosophy of Barcelona.

Anyway, no one is going to change each other’s minds even if I’m in a minority. This is boring to talk about as it’s old and all I do is occasionally make a comment to show that there still is viewers of the sport that believes Messi is not rated rightly or accurately in their eyes - for simply not taking their personal tests. Like few men who might not like a woman that the majority would die for, which is plausible isn’t it? Simply because they like different beauty assets on their woman.
Hope you enjoy him whilst you can & hope he continues to kill with Inter Miami in the USA to have a beautiful highlights reel for our next generation.

Stupid post

 

[That_Bloke]

Poor Speed

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

I just don't understand the hype about this guy and why he got millions of followers.

 

[Gehrman]

I dont argue that he is others goats & the majority’s GOAT but i always will comment about how i personally feel as my opinion.
Loyalty to barcelona was the only excuse I really had for him for not being tested in a tougher/different league in his whole career to feed my anxiety about his adaptive ability (something you don’t have as a fan who views him as the best of all time, whilst it’s things I value more as my GOAT - more so than things like technique which can be heavily influenced by team & league and team mates or manager IMO).

Then watching him in Ligue 1 not helping PSG to the success he was bought for as his only other daily competition took me to places again.He hasn’t been successful in the CL for ages and all of that success came under an era of Pep +- 1 year, the best Possesion football of all time, Xavi, Iniesta & then Messi as a cherry on top of the tastiest cake.
That started deteriorating soon as each one of them left even for Barcelona in that order. The success literally dropped in that order. Xavi & Iniesta we’re loyal to Barcelona & helped a non historical winning country like Spain win the World Cup but Messi wasn’t loyal so I analyze him outside Barcelona & his ability at other clubs more.

I just don’t see him 100% having the same trajectory under a different manager, league or club that might have played different tactics like countering, not ever trying out things like being a false 9 or even having a deep lying playmaker like Xavi (Mourinho) Even under a manager like SAF - Messi could have spent his growing years playing solely as a left winger providing for a striker like RVN & never getting the chance to play as a false 9/cf because SAF didn’t know or abide with that tactic.

Then I find out that Barcelona’s period of success under Pep could also be influenced by paying referees & then my anxiety still grew.
Anyway, I don’t hate him, not one bit - and I do think he is the most successful player of all time that is rightfully regarded as the GOAT by the majority, the most technical player succeeding in the most technical tested league but he is personally not my GOAT because I feel like he didn’t take my personal tests (everyone has their own tests) where he could have grown or adapted in a total different way to the philosophy of Barcelona.

Anyway, no one is going to change each other’s minds even if I’m in a minority. This is boring to talk about as it’s old and all I do is occasionally make a comment to show that there still is viewers of the sport that believes Messi is not rated rightly or accurately in their eyes - for simply not taking their personal tests. Like few men who might not like a woman that the majority would die for, which is plausible isn’t it? Simply because they like different beauty assets on their woman.
Hope you enjoy him whilst you can & hope he continues to kill with Inter Miami in the USA to have a beautiful highlights reel for our next generation.

Whenever some makes analogies to women when talking football my brain melts. Xavi and inesta were vital to their country but they were also part of the greatest golden generation in history in terms of Spains pool of players. They were late bloomers too. Xavi hit his stride at 28. Anyway this is the same circular argument you have made a million times already. Yes Barca's succes dropped when world class players were replaced by lesser players and flops and average managers. Who would have guessed its a team game. Messi still managed individually to keep his own level until he started having an age related decline but has still been a ballon d'or contender every season since then apart from the 2021/2022 seson.

 

[BusbyMalone]

Ronaldo fans still struggling to cope I see. Let it go lads.

 

[Marcelinho87]

I just don't understand the hype about this guy and why he got millions of followers.

Snowballs from one person not interested that posts him anyway to a bunch of others who aren't interested.

 

[Gehrman]

We should create a Messi(36 inter miami) vs Ronaldo (38 Al-Nassr) thread because thats what the caf needs and keeps people coming here)

 

[That_Bloke]

Should have gone to the saudi league as it looks more competitive but doesnt surprise me because he only played in the worlds best league for 3-5 years at max.

such bitter. much bias.

 

[Pocho]

Some people still salty about Messi being the GOAT. Just let it go. He’s almost retired and still bringing some beautiful moments of football.

 

[MarylandMUFan]

I knew the haters would do this. If Messi does well, it's because the league is shit. If he struggles, it's because the league is horrible, as is his supporting cast, and he isn't good enough to overcome it.
Ridiculous all around.

 

[Mart1974]

I watch prime Ronaldo and prime Messi live. Ronaldo played football brilliantly, Messi was playing a different game. The last time I saw Messi live was in the Camp Nou vs Athletico. Only 1 -0 to Barca but Messi ran the show, he was unplayable and scored a worldie free kick. I will always love Ronnie but Messi is the better player.

 

[Idxomer]

People still bother with that Bebestation account, it's best ignored.

 

[Mb194dc]

I think he's a lot happier in Miami and it's showing in his football.

 

[Rodgerzzz]

Will never be the GOAT until he does an interview with Piers Morgan on some backwater UK TV channel having a pop at the club he's currently under contract with

 

[Gehrman]

I dont argue that he is others goats & the majority’s GOAT but i always will comment about how i personally feel as my opinion.
Loyalty to barcelona was the only excuse I really had for him for not being tested in a tougher/different league in his whole career to feed my anxiety about his adaptive ability (something you don’t have as a fan who views him as the best of all time, whilst it’s things I value more as my GOAT - more so than things like technique which can be heavily influenced by team & league and team mates or manager IMO).

Then watching him in Ligue 1 not helping PSG to the success he was bought for as his only other daily competition took me to places again.He hasn’t been successful in the CL for ages and all of that success came under an era of Pep +- 1 year, the best Possesion football of all time, Xavi, Iniesta & then Messi as a cherry on top of the tastiest cake.
That started deteriorating soon as each one of them left even for Barcelona in that order. The success literally dropped in that order. Xavi & Iniesta we’re loyal to Barcelona & helped a non historical winning country like Spain win the World Cup but Messi wasn’t loyal so I analyze him outside Barcelona & his ability at other clubs more.

I just don’t see him 100% having the same trajectory under a different manager, league or club that might have played different tactics like countering, not ever trying out things like being a false 9 or even having a deep lying playmaker like Xavi (Mourinho) Even under a manager like SAF - Messi could have spent his growing years playing solely as a left winger providing for a striker like RVN & never getting the chance to play as a false 9/cf because SAF didn’t know or abide with that tactic.

Then I find out that Barcelona’s period of success under Pep could also be influenced by paying referees & then my anxiety still grew.
Anyway, I don’t hate him, not one bit - and I do think he is the most successful player of all time that is rightfully regarded as the GOAT by the majority, the most technical player succeeding in the most technical tested league but he is personally not my GOAT because I feel like he didn’t take my personal tests (everyone has their own tests) where he could have grown or adapted in a total different way to the philosophy of Barcelona.

Anyway, no one is going to change each other’s minds even if I’m in a minority. This is boring to talk about as it’s old and all I do is occasionally make a comment to show that there still is viewers of the sport that believes Messi is not rated rightly or accurately in their eyes - for simply not taking their personal tests. Like few men who might not like a woman that the majority would die for, which is plausible isn’t it? Simply because they like different beauty assets on their woman.
Hope you enjoy him whilst you can & hope he continues to kill with Inter Miami in the USA to have a beautiful highlights reel for our next generation.

Have you tried copy/pasting this into Chatgpt?

 

[Gehrman]

I knew the haters would do this. If Messi does well, it's because the league is shit. If he struggles, it's because the league is horrible, as is his supporting cast, and he isn't good enough to overcome it.
Ridiculous all around.

If Messi wins the wc its rigged. And not rigged when he loses it.

 

[maniak]

He's played in Europe for the vast majority of his career, it's diminishing returns at this point.

And basketball fans are less snobby than football fans, if Giannis moved to the EuroLeague I think they'd be more understanding of whatever his reasons were.

But they'd still be sorry they wouldn't get to see him play against the best. In any case it wouldn't have anything to do with location, so I guess I don't understand your "noble europe" bit.

 

[GinobiliTheGOAT]

Should have gone to the saudi league as it looks more competitive but doesnt surprise me because he only played in the worlds best league for 3-5 years at max.

he won the WC, give it up

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I just don't understand the hype about this guy and why he got millions of followers.

Apparently being a tool is appealing for some

 

[Ish]

Apparently being a tool is appealing for some

 

[Melvin Udall]

What about the Heat?

They’re consistently decent, and occasionally compete for the nba title, and therefore have better support.

 

[Real Name]

Should have gone to the saudi league as it looks more competitive but doesnt surprise me because he only played in the worlds best league for 3-5 years at max.

Sure.

If Messi went to Saudi league and Ronaldo went to MLS suddenly MLS would look more competitive by some miracle.

 

[Melvin Udall]

Whilst a lot of what you say is true, you have to take into consideration the fact that I. Miami are a brand new team who have been woeful up til now.

Atlanta for example have won the MLS and are in terms of the league a big club.
Miami with the players they have now will be a massive pull and will improve the club massively.

Atlanta were pulling 40k fans per game in their first season, though, and have not been as good recently. I do think Miami can get better fan support when they move closer to downtown, especially if they win, but they’re never going to be one of the bigger clubs in the league. They actually already had an mls club in the 90s, but it was one of only 3 that folded.

 

[adexkola]

But they'd still be sorry they wouldn't get to see him play against the best. In any case it wouldn't have anything to do with location, so I guess I don't understand your "noble europe" bit.

It was a throwaway comment but I'll expound: Messi has not played against "the best" for over 2 years now. Were they sorry he was in Ligue 1 (or in La Liga during it's leaner years)? If not, then I'd say the perception of Europe as a whole being a more "noble" location for top footballers to ply their trade (regardless of the specifics of what countries actually offer top opposition) factored in the statement I replied to.

 

[maniak]

It was a throwaway comment but I'll expound: Messi has not played against "the best" for over 2 years now. Were they sorry he was in Ligue 1 (or in La Liga during it's leaner years)? If not, then I'd say the perception of Europe as a whole being a more "noble" location for top footballers to ply their trade (regardless of the specifics of what countries actually offer top opposition) factored in the statement I replied to.

I mean, he played in the UCL, you can't get better opposition than that. And yes, plenty of people were sorry he was in L1, plenty of comments about farmers league, messi wasting his talents etc. on any social media clip after he scored, for example.

 

[Zehner]

I dont argue that he is others goats & the majority’s GOAT but i always will comment about how i personally feel as my opinion.
Loyalty to barcelona was the only excuse I really had for him for not being tested in a tougher/different league in his whole career to feed my anxiety about his adaptive ability (something you don’t have as a fan who views him as the best of all time, whilst it’s things I value more as my GOAT - more so than things like technique which can be heavily influenced by team & league and team mates or manager IMO).

Then watching him in Ligue 1 not helping PSG to the success he was bought for as his only other daily competition took me to places again.He hasn’t been successful in the CL for ages and all of that success came under an era of Pep +- 1 year, the best Possesion football of all time, Xavi, Iniesta & then Messi as a cherry on top of the tastiest cake.
That started deteriorating soon as each one of them left even for Barcelona in that order. The success literally dropped in that order. Xavi & Iniesta we’re loyal to Barcelona & helped a non historical winning country like Spain win the World Cup but Messi wasn’t loyal so I analyze him outside Barcelona & his ability at other clubs more.

I just don’t see him 100% having the same trajectory under a different manager, league or club that might have played different tactics like countering, not ever trying out things like being a false 9 or even having a deep lying playmaker like Xavi (Mourinho) Even under a manager like SAF - Messi could have spent his growing years playing solely as a left winger providing for a striker like RVN & never getting the chance to play as a false 9/cf because SAF didn’t know or abide with that tactic.

Then I find out that Barcelona’s period of success under Pep could also be influenced by paying referees & then my anxiety still grew.
Anyway, I don’t hate him, not one bit - and I do think he is the most successful player of all time that is rightfully regarded as the GOAT by the majority, the most technical player succeeding in the most technical tested league but he is personally not my GOAT because I feel like he didn’t take my personal tests (everyone has their own tests) where he could have grown or adapted in a total different way to the philosophy of Barcelona.

Anyway, no one is going to change each other’s minds even if I’m in a minority. This is boring to talk about as it’s old and all I do is occasionally make a comment to show that there still is viewers of the sport that believes Messi is not rated rightly or accurately in their eyes - for simply not taking their personal tests. Like few men who might not like a woman that the majority would die for, which is plausible isn’t it? Simply because they like different beauty assets on their woman.
Hope you enjoy him whilst you can & hope he continues to kill with Inter Miami in the USA to have a beautiful highlights reel for our next generation.

It's fascinating how someone can spend so much time thinking and writing about football yet can be so clueless on the matter.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Some people still salty about Messi being the GOAT. Just let it go. He’s almost retired and still bringing some beautiful moments of football.

This might come as a shock to you but, no one put a gun to your head and forced you to read it.

 

[Melvin Udall]

So has any reliable authority made a rough estimate where the MLS ranks globally?

How does Forbes come to the conclusion that the MLS is a top 10 league?

https://www.forbesindia.com/article...vs-ronaldo-in-mls-vs-saudi-pro-league/86785/1

I believe it is top 10 in terms of attendance. There are nearly 30 teams in the league, and basically all of them average 15k or more in terms of fan attendance.

https://www.transfermarkt.us/major-league-soccer/besucherzahlen/wettbewerb/MLS1

Compare that with the Eredivisie, where almost 1/2 the league can’t get 10k per game.

https://www.transfermarkt.us/erediv...ettbewerb/NL1/plus/0/galerie/0?saison_id=2022

If you look at market values, mls doesn’t have any monster clubs, but there also isn’t a ton of separation between the top and the bottom:

https://www.transfermarkt.us/major-league-soccer/startseite/wettbewerb/MLS1

compare that with the Eredivisie, where Ajax and a couple of other clubs have big budgets and plenty of talent, but much of the league is below even the lowest in mls:

https://www.transfermarkt.us/eredivisie/startseite/wettbewerb/NL1

usually, when we evaluate the quality of a league, we think about the teams in the top half of the table that we are familiar with. The Bundesliga is Bayern, Leipzig, Wolfsburg, etc, not heidenheim or Darmstadt.

But the mls salary rules make it so no team can have a lot better depth than the others. An ambitious club can pay big money for their top 3 players, or a top manager, or a better academy, but they can’t build a super club.

I would not put mls on the level of the Eredivisie or Jupiler pro league, but I do think the top 5-6 players on most mls teams would not be out of place at mid-level clubs in those leagues. The issue is that even a good mls team might have a couple players on the pitch who don’t make 100k usd per year.

the league is growing, though. Salaries are up like 50% over the past 7-8 years, and are projected to keep growing at a similar pace for the next 5 years or so. We are also seeing mls develop more domestic players (Reyna, Adams, Mckennie, Aaronson, Pepi, and a few others either spent time in mlsor mls academies). Also, mls clubs are starting to buy more players from South America and flip them to Europe for bigger fees. Almiron went to Newcastle a few years ago, buy Chicago also bought jhon Duran for about one million before selling him to Aston Villa for like 18 million. And Atlanta United bought Thiago Almada from Argentina for 15 million dollars, and he was one Argentina’s World Cup squad in Qatar. He’s been linked with a move to Napoli.

I personally never watched mls much before the past couple of years, but the quality of play has improved, and it’s now worth watching in the summer for me. I do think that in another ten years or so, it will really have closed the gap with the Dutch and Belgian leagues as a whole, even if it doesn’t have an Ajax or PSV.