Keep Lionel Messi, scrap salary cap & ditch designated player rules: MLS told how to keep next Christian Pulisic and USMNT stars playing on home soil amid European exodus

For now, the most exciting talents in the United States continue to spread their wings at the earliest opportunity. Times are changing, but the likes of Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna headed to Europe while still in their teens.

They are now on the books at AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund, while Weston McKennie, Folarin Balogun, Tim Weah and Yunus Musah are among the other American stars shining a long way outside of their homeland.

Messi’s arrival in MLS during the summer of 2023 has helped to raise the profile and appeal of the division, but questions are still being asked of what happens when the Argentine icon moves on and whether USMNT players can ever be prevented from chasing dreams elsewhere.

Ex-England international Defoe, who represented Toronto FC in his playing days, told GOAL while speaking courtesy of bet365’s new Sub On, Play On product: "When I was there, a lot of players wanted to play in Europe. That’s understandable, they wanted to try and get to the Premier League or the Championship – the best leagues. That’s normal and they should be thinking like that.

"Hopefully, with Messi being there and attracting more players that don’t go to Saudi, it makes the league better and more competitive.

"The American players, homegrown players, will then want to stay there because it’s competitive and a top league, the stadiums are full. Hopefully they are able to get the wages that they deserve, not just the designated players, and they are able to stay there and have decent careers in their home country."

Quizzed on whether strict rules in MLS - such as those relating to wage structures and DP positions in any given squad - are holding the league back, Defoe added: "One hundred per cent. Having those two or three players, it’s something that surprised me. In England it is completely different. I went over there and when I was doing my deal with Toronto, I didn’t realise how they did it over there.

"I played with some amazing players, younger players, in Toronto. I did look at those guys and think ‘if you played in Europe, you’d be on decent money and you’d have decent careers’. I don’t know if they can change that. If these players can earn decent money and play with top players, in a league that is going in one direction, then of course they don’t need to think about desperately going to Europe."

MLS is doing all it can to entice more household names to North America, but that process is being complicated by the appeal of life in Europe and the riches on offer in the Saudi Pro League. It remains to be seen how long Messi will stick around to aid the cause, with no extension clause in his contract at Inter Miami being triggered as yet.