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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger caused a bit of a stir recently when he said in an interview on Arsenal's website that the MLS is a good place for European players who are too old to hack it in one of the top European leagues.
"You have two steps. Being completely at the top finishes when you are 34 at the latest," Wenger said. "After that, you have different leagues like the MLS and the Indian league. I encourage players to play as long as possible if they really love it."
Wenger is right, though, with David Beckham, Robbie Keane, Frank Lampard, Kaka and Thierry Henry as examples. No in-their-prime European player would come to the U.S. because of the quality of the play - and, maybe more importantly, the pay. Premier League players make about 16 times more than MLS players, on average, with the rest of the top European leagues not far behind. To put that in dollar terms, if you play in the MLS, your average salary is around $215,000 compared to an average salary of more than $3,500,000 for the English Premier League. (Full league salary figures can be found here.)
The MLS is also a good destination for older players because playing well against inferior MLS competition keeps their names in the headlines, and when the designated player rule is applied to them, they can make a fair bit of cash.
Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane are two of the best players in the MLS, and their old clubs don't want them any more. Having these big names helps the MLS's notoriety as well as the players'. It's a win-win for everybody.
Wenger also mentioned the Indian Super League as a destination for retiring players.
