'Real football is played in Europe' - USMNT brutally told why Christian Pulisic & top players won't stay in MLS ahead of home World Cup

While the game has continued to grow Stateside, keeping emerging players in their homeland has proved difficult. That is because a greater level of competition, alongside heftier salaries, can be found when crossing the Atlantic.

Opportunities to develop in European surroundings have benefitted a number of USMNT stars - while others that were raised in that part of the world have been talked into pledging international allegiance to the stars and stripes. Collective standards have been raised as a result, allowing a ‘Golden Generation’ to form.

That group is now heading to a home World Cup, with optimism continuing to build around a squad that sits comfortably inside the top 20 of the FIFA world rankings. Mauricio Pochettino will be calling upon several players that still ply their trade in the U.S.

The presence of Argentine GOAT Lionel Messi continues to give that division a welcome shot in the arm - as worldwide interest is attracted - but will there come a day when American talent stays put and generates similar levels of buzz and excitement?

When that question was put to New Jersey native Rossi, the ex-Manchester United, Fiorentina, Villarreal and Real Salt Lake striker - speaking in association with Wiz Slots - told GOAL: “That is a big challenge, but the real football is played in Europe. Real football is played in Europe. That's where everybody wants to be. 

“The big league here in America is MLS. MLS is run like an American sport, but we have to remember that football is an international sport. You could run the NFL, you could run the NBA, you could run baseball in an American way, because it's an American sport. Those are three American sports, but football is an international sport. And therefore, they have a long, long way to go to be at the same level of a Premier League, of a Serie A, of a Bundesliga. And rightfully so, they should aspire to play in Europe.”

Rossi believes there are obvious flaws that are holding the American game back, with salary caps one of the issues that continues to generate lively debate. Former Italy international Rossi added: “It's not the right structure that you're going to attract young players to develop, to keep around. I think it's great for owners, but I don't like things that are built from the top down. I'm always a believer of building from the bottom up.”

Efforts are being made to make MLS more appealing, as calendar shifts bring it more in line with European leagues, and the hope is that home-grown stars will soon have no need to consider a move abroad as their every whim can be catered to in the States.

Another man that has experienced life in Europe and America, ex-Chelsea, Manchester City and New York Red Bulls winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, has previously told GOAL when asked if players of promise will start to stay put: "I really hope so. For the sport there, I really hope so. It’s nice for a country to be able to do that.

"Pretty much every other country can do that - even the ones that we say don’t have big fan bases, you can still make a career there. It’s only Americans that are struggling with that. You have got Central American players coming up and surviving and playing, but it’s the Americans that are thinking ‘I need to leave America or I need to retire’."

The 2026 World Cup should help the United States to put more building blocks in place. It remains to be seen how many of those will be required in order for superstars of the future to favour home comforts over far-flung foreign adventures.