Giovinco to Toronto: Is this a new dawn for the MLS?

Usually when big names head to the MLS, they are players in the swansong of their careers. David Beckham, Jermaine Defoe and Thierry Henry have all recently finished stints there and Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Kaka and David Villa will all head stateside at some point during the 2015 MLS season. All of those headed across the pond in their early to mid 30’s.

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But now, current Italian international Sebastian Giovinco will head to Toronto this summer, seemingly to replace Jermaine Defoe, who has moved to Sunderland after failing to settle in Canada. Giovinco spurned the advances of Premier League clubs to head across the Atlantic.

It was inevitable that Giovinco was going to leave Juventus at some point. He has made just 10 appearances this season and he is well down the pecking order. Carlos Tevez is the first choice striker at the Old Lady, and Fernando Llorente and Alvaro Morata are also ahead of the Italian and Juventus are keen to bring rising star Kingsley Coman, a French 18 year old, through the ranks. Even so, this move marks a major coup for both Toronto and the MLS.

So, will Giovinco blaze a trail for footballers in their prime to move away from the riches of European football for a league that is booming at the moment? Italy boss Antonio Conte thinks so, saying in an interview with Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport “In a few years players will elbow each other to go there. The MLS will grow so much, and not just in terms of chatter.”

What stands out though is that Giovinco is set to be paid $7m (£4.63m) a year for 5 years; a sum that will make him the highest paid Italian footballer around.

Is money talking here? Put it this way, he would not warrant anywhere near that salary anywhere in Europe. His current Juventus salary is $2.5m (£1.68m) a year. He’s nearly tripling his wages!

But there are a few key reasons that justify his move other than pocketing a few bucks. Let’s face it, Giovinco will be the best player in the league. He’s still in his prime unlike Gerrard, Lampard and Kaka, and he will become one of the key faces of the MLS, a league most certainly on the rise

But with Euro 2016 rapidly approaching, spots in the Italian team are up for grabs, and whilst Antonio Conte supports Giovinco’s decision to head stateside, serious questions have to be raised over whether he warrants a spot in the Italian team given that on the whole, he will be facing players who would struggle in the Championship.

You’ve got to admire Giovinco’s bravery though. It takes a lot of guts to sacrifice the buzz of European football for a league still finding its feet. Yes, money has probably played a significant role in him moving to the MLS, but he gets the chance to do something that he can’t do in Europe; bring football to mass popularity in one of the biggest sporting markets on earth.

This could prove to be a great move for Giovinco and if he suceeds in America, he could be just the start for big name players to head to the MLS in their prime, but just don’t expect to see the Italian next year in the Euros in France .

Landon Donovan- A True American Great

LA Galaxy won their 5th MLS Cup on Sunday with an overtime win over NE Revolution and as such, Galaxy became the 1st team to win 5 MLS Cups. However, the game was significant for another reason as well, Landon Donovan’s final game before retiring. Embed from Getty Images Legacy is a buzzword in American Sports, and it’s fair to say that Donovan will have a lasting legacy on US Soccer. Soccer is on the rise in the States, the likes of David Beckham and Thierry Henry moving to the MLS in the swansong of their careers has put the MLS on the global stage, and the stature of the MLS is only going to rise with the arrival of Frank Lampard, David Villa and Kaka next year. This summer’s World Cup, in which the US reached the Round of 16 through qualifying from the ‘Group of Death’, a tournament that Donovan was controversially not involved in, will also add to the stock of US Soccer. But the success of the likes of Donovan, heroes of US Soccer, is probably the key factor behind the rise of soccer in the US. Fans are already embracing the sport; just look at this video from Copa90 if you need any proof of that, but American players playing at the top level is going to speed up the uptake of soccer in the US. So why is Landon Donovan lauded as one of the key people behind the rise of Soccer in the US? Put simply, he is the most decorated player in American history. For the national team, he holds the record for the most goals and assists and he has 6 MLS Cups to his name. He is the epitome of what American soccer players should strive to achieve and his accomplishments are going to encourage more Americans to opt for soccer over the likes of American Football, Baseball and Basketball. If they can produce more talents like Donovan, then soccer in America will be firmly on the map. The future is bright for US Soccer, and that is partly down the achievements of Donovan.