FIFA president Gianni Infantino says MLS “must attract the best players” in order to grow

Hold on, everyone, someone’s given Gianni Infantino a microphone again, and this time, he’s decided to speak about MLS...

Infantino, addressing a gathering in Los Angeles, said that he advised MLS executives on the significance of recruiting top-tier players to elevate the sport. “I emphasised the necessity for a more daring approach,” Infantino commented during the Milken Institute Global Conference. “We need to attract the very best players.”

‘Is there really a great American soccer player?’

“We want to see the best so we need to bring them the best players, but also the best game, and the best spectacle,” Infantino remarked. “For this we need to invest in the players because we want to show to the kids who play soccer when they are at school or when they are very young, that there is a path in soccer to glory to become one of these world stars.

“This is what maybe they don’t see yet”, he continued, ”they see it in basketball, American football, in baseball and ice hockey. But in soccer, it’s still kind of far away. You have to go to Europe. And is there really a great American soccer player?”

As well as bringing in the best players, MLS also has a huge deal with AppleTV, which has been signed for 10 years. “For the first time in the history of sports, fans will be able to access everything from a major professional sports league in one place,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services, “it’s a dream come true for MLS fans, soccer fans, and anyone who loves sports.”

MLS has seen a huge surge in popularity since the high-profile arrival of Lionel Messi to the country, with Inter Miami the talk on the streets (as well as Kendrick vs Drake) for many people. Gianni seems to think it’s the way forward, bringing the best players in to improve the standards of a league; to be fair, we have to say that this time it’s hard to disagree with him.