Why can't MLS keep top American talent?

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Striker Patrick Agyemang’s departure for Europe became official Tuesday afternoon even as staffers at Bank of America Stadium were setting up club level space for the announcement Wednesday morning that Charlotte would host the 2026 Major League Soccer All-Star game.

By the time MLS commissioner Don Garber took the stage to declare Charlotte a “world-class soccer destination,” it was aging news that one of his two picks for this year’s MLS All-Star game would miss the July 23 game in Austin. Agyemang has begun his tenure with Derby County of the English Championship, the second-tier of professional soccer in England. [He’s set to undergo hernia surgery and will miss the start of the EFL season.]

After Wednesday’s proceedings, Garber was asked if it was frustrating to lose an emerging American player like Agyemang to Europe. He didn’t flinch.

“It’s not frustrating at all,” Garber said. “We are operating in a global market, and that global market is about developing players and having those players either stay and continuing the rest of their careers here, or going on and playing in another league. In [Agyemang’s] case, it was a great career move. He went to a small college and then to Rhode Island and was signed here in the draft and is now sold for nearly $10 million.”

The deal with Derby County netted Charlotte FC $8 million in transfer fees plus another $2 million in bonuses. For Agyemang, it meant a raise from the MLS minimum salary of $104,000 to more than $1 million annually.

“We wish him all the best going forward, but it was time for him to go,” Charlotte FC general manager Zoran Krneta said. “He wanted to go. He expressed his desire to us on several occasions. We tried to keep him. We wanted to offer the contract. We offered multiple contracts, every time better and better. But it was time for him to move, and then it was to the point to make the best possible deal for the club.”

Krneta pointed out that keeping talented players from leaving for more lucrative contracts in more prominent European leagues is a challenge in other parts of the world as well.

“This is not only Charlotte, it’s not only MLS,” Krneta said. “All the leagues are selling to the bigger, wealthier leagues in Europe.”

On an elevator after the press conference, Garber explained why it benefits MLS to be comfortable selling players, too. He gave an example in dollar figures that matched up to the situation where the Chicago Fire sold Colombian striker Jhon Duran to Aston Villa of the English Premier League for $22 million in 2023. Two years later, he was sold to Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia for around $80 million.

National soccer writer Tom Bogert — who’s been covering MLS since 2018 for MLSsoccer.com, The Athletic and GiveMeSport.com — calls it the food chain of global soccer. Right now, the top five leagues in Europe and Saudi Arabia are the sharks.

“It’s a combination of money, plus do you go to where the better competition is, the better leagues are?” Bogert said. “You see it happening with Saudi Arabia. Obviously, that’s a huge payday, and I understand players maximizing their earnings, but it comes with a drawback of not playing at the highest level if you leave the Premier League or [Spain’s] La Liga for Saudi. It’s the same kind of thing with Americans in MLS. If Christian Pulisic came back to MLS, he would get ridiculed for it because undoubtedly, AC Milan and [Italy’s] Serie A is a higher level than MLS.”

Interestingly, Bogert said he thinks Garber would have answered the question about losing American talent differently 10 to 15 years ago.

“He wanted MLS to be a destination,” Bogert said. “And people around the league figured out, ‘Well, we have to be a selling league first to become a destination.’”

For American sports fans [and writers] still learning the ins and outs of Major League Soccer, it’s a weird sensation to have your franchise serve as a rung on a global ladder.

“What's difficult for the American to understand is with the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball and NHL, everyone wants to come play in their league,” said Taylor Twellman, lead MLS analyst for Apple TV, five-time MLS All-Star with the New England Revolution and former U.S. Men’s national team player.

“What Patrick Agyemang does is every player that wants to go to Europe now looks at Charlotte and says, ‘I need to go there to get where I want to go,’” Twellman continued. “Now, when Zoran and the ownership group go to South America to recruit a player, or wherever it is, this unequivocally helps recruit players. Now, every time Patrick Agyemang plays, they have to say, ‘from Charlotte FC of Major League Soccer.’ That is the best marketing tool anyone can have.”

Twellman pointed to Paraguayan Miguel Amiron, who signed with Atlanta United and moved to the English Premier League with Newcastle, before rejoining Atlanta in January.

“That’s how they got Thiago Almada,” Twellman said of the Argentinian midfielder, who went from Atlanta to Brazil to Atlético Madrid in Spain and played alongside Lionel Messi on Argentina’s 2022 World Cup team. “That’s how they got [Argentinian] Pity Martinez [who went to Saudi Arabia on an $18 million transfer fee.] Before that, nobody in South America ever wanted to come to Major League Soccer. They wanted to go elsewhere to get to Europe. Now they all want to come here.”

For those of us who look out at the Charlotte FC lineup as the national anthem is playing and are curious to see who has a hand on his chest or sings along, there aren’t a lot of choices. Wednesday night for Charlotte’s game against DC United, it was only Tim Ream on the home side. [Andrew Privett and Brandt Bronico were on the bench.]

We are not alone.

Smith, a Brit who was raised on and coached in the English Premier League, said one of the first things he thought of joining Charlotte FC was wanting to get more Americans on the roster.

“Sometimes I look at the players, and these could be both [starting] elevens, when the national anthems on, there’s only probably four or five players [total] with hands on the heart, giving the national anthem out,” Smith said. “And I just think it would be pretty cool for us to have a few more of their players. But they come at a premium.”

Like Pulisic, the best American players typically want to play in Europe. Even those who might prefer to stay in MLS often need a stint in Europe first to command higher salaries upon their return. Walker Zimmerman of Nashville is the exception, a designated player, who played his entire career in MLS.

Ream played 13 seasons in England, including nine with Fulham, before signing last year with Charlotte. He was there alongside Agyemang for nearly six weeks during the U.S. team’s Gold Cup run while negotiations were ongoing with Derby County. Ream said he and other U.S. teammates offered Agyemang advice on when to get involved, when to back off, what life is like in England on and off the field and more.

“I’m happy for him,” said Ream, who echoed sentiments from Charlotte FC teammates current and past. “He’s worked really hard to get to that point, and for him to have that opportunity now is great for the club and great for him as well.”

Agyemang joined the litany of U.S. players in Europe. Pulisic (A.C. Milan), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Josh Sargent (Norwich City) and Tim Weah (Juventus) are just naming a few.

“I just think it’s the game,” Ream said. “… Teams want players. They’re going to buy players. And everybody finds where they belong and the level that they’re at. It’s no different if you’re from the U.S., if you’re from Argentina, if you’re from Germany, France. Your value is your value.”

So where does that leave Major League Soccer?

“It just means you've got to churn players in and out,” Twellman said. “You’ve got to develop more players. In my opinion, that is developing players at the local level, but also scouting the right players. Seven years ago, Patrick Agyemang’s at Eastern Connecticut. I live in Boston, Massachusetts. I have no clue where that is. There are Patrick Agyemangs all over this country. Go find them.”

As for his official business in town, Garber joined owner David and Nicole Tepper, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, and a host of dignitaries at Bank of America Stadium on Wednesday to announce that Charlotte has been chosen to host the 2026 MLS All Star game in July of next year.

The date has yet to be announced, but it will come after MLS breaks for the World Cup, which is to be played in the U.S. next summer. In recent years, the MLS All-Star game has featured a select group of MLS All-Stars against a team from Mexico’s Liga MX. It will include a weeklong series of events, including the All-Star skills challenge and a fan festival.

For Charlotte, it’s another significant get for a club that’s hosted a string of soccer events since the team made its MLS debut in 2022. In that time, Bank of America has hosted games in the FIFA Club World Cup, Copa America, Gold Cup, Leagues Cup and multiple international exhibitions.

“Every time we have a new team, we promise them at some point you’ll have an all-star game, but life’s a long time,” Garber said. “It might take 20 years. In this case, Charlotte came in pretty quickly because of the nature and strength of their bid.”

A $2 million grant approved by the N.C. General Assembly from money made from sports gambling helped Charlotte’s cause. It’s just the third such grant issued so far; the first two helped fund NASCAR races in Winston-Salem and Rockingham.

“Many of you sitting here don’t understand the sports fund that was created by the legislature through the funds from off-site betting,” Charlotte Sports Foundation board of directors co-chair Johnny Harris told the media Wednesday morning. “And I want you to understand that was a fight. There were a lot of people in this room who had a lot to do with that law becoming something that we now have the benefits from. And an event like this is the perfect example of how the state of North Carolina can partner with local people, particularly ones that are as organized and as strong as Tepper Sports and attract special events.”

Harris floated ideas like the NFL Draft and even the Super Bowl. Charlotte hosted the NFC Championship in 2015 and the NBA All-Star games in 1991 and 2019.

On the night Charlotte FC debuted its “heritage kit” — a neon yellow and powder blue homage to the old Carolina Lightnin’ team in town in the 1980s — it defeated DC United 2-1. That was the same score by which the Lightnin’ defeated New York United of the American Soccer League to win the 1981 championship. It was a serendipitous score on a night when 15 former players and head coach Rodney Marsh were honored at halftime.

Charlotte FC players seemed to enjoy the bright new look as well.

“That was a special night, a special jersey and a good performance,” captain Ashley Westwood said. “Hopefully, the [Lightnin’] boys enjoyed that.”

As for the making of a team video to commemorate the event, Westwood was asked if his teenage son Frankie actually nutmegged him in the clip. [Kicked the ball between his legs.']

“No comment,” Westwood replied. “He’s been grounded.”

When/Where: 7:30 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

How to watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Find information about how to subscribe for the season here.

How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.

Notable:

Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fourth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!

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