'MLS has to heavily invest in star players' - FOX Sports' Stu Holden on the evolution of the American game, why Christian Pulisic will be 'best U.S. Soccer player of all-time'

GOAL: One thing MLS Commissioner Don Garber alluded to in his State of the League address is that the league and its teams needs to be proactive in growing its audience before justifying additional spending. If he asked you one thing to change, what would it be and why?

HOLDEN: The league is doing really, really well - attendance-wise and globally - regional markets, local connections, strong fan bases, soccer-specific stadiums. It's just crazy to think about where this league has come from. When I played in the league back in 2006-10, there were 14 or 15 teams, and half of them were playing in college or NFL stadiums in front of 5,000 fans. We have to remember that MLS is still just 29 years old - next year will be its 30th - so it's still in its infancy compared to leagues globally.

I understand why owners and Garber have been reluctant to take the handbrake off and allow free spending and reckless spending. But to create national interest, you're competing not just with local markets but globally, where every morning fans can watch the Premier League, La Liga, and Bundesliga. Then they see MLS at night, and there's a stark difference in quality.

MLS has to heavily invest in star players to drive interest. Look what Caitlin Clark has done for the WNBA - it's insane. Lionel Messi is one star, but he needs others to duel against. Imagine: Messi vs. Harry Kane live on FOX, or Messi taking on Erling Haaland and New York City FC. Matchups like that draw in casual fans who have been on the fence about MLS and still see it as inferior to European soccer. The in-game and fan experiences are great. But to improve the TV product and drive national interest, the league has to raise its quality by investing in stars.

GOAL: Do you think MLS is a bit over-reliant on Messi since his arrival? You played in the David Beckham era and it feels like there's a lot of parallels to that time. Is the league is too reliant on a singular star and does it need to do more?

HOLDEN: I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, you’ve got the greatest player to ever play the game in your league - why not put him on absolutely everything? He’s a player every kid knows. My four-year-old knows Messi, the kids at his school know Messi. The danger is when you rely so heavily on someone like Messi to drive national interest. If he gets injured, you don’t have the same level of star power. Cucho Hernandez is phenomenal. Denis Bouanga is great.

But they’re not big stars, and building star power takes time. It takes working with TV networks. Messi transcends that. Beckham transcended that. But can you also have nine-out-of-ten-level stars, not just Messi or Beckham? In L.A., it’s a star-driven city. I watched the Galaxy win MLS Cup, and yet the local buzz wasn’t what I expected - especially coming off a run where the Dodgers won a championship, too. Why is that? Is it a lack of promotion? A lack of visibility on Apple’s TV product? Or is it just too much competition in a season with college football, the NFL heating up, and baseball just wrapping up? That’s always the challenge with MLS.

I lived through that Beckham era, and it was amazing to play Beckham at home in Houston, and 35,000 fans would come out for a game. And like that buzz and energy for us was unlike anything else we'd ever played in front of. I know that's what guys feel when they play on the Messi star tour. But it can't just be one theme, but I understand why they do it. I would, too, if that's the best story you have going for you.

GOAL: Moving on to the U.S. national team, what have you liked from what you've seen from Mauricio Pochettino?

HOLDEN: I love the intensity and the freshness that comes from a new manager with Pochettino. I think Pochettino has pretty quickly identified the strengths of the team and maybe some of the shortcomings as well. He knows he's got a pretty good core of guys that he can work with. But also what we've been saying for a long time, this team is full of some really high end athletes, guys like Tim Weah, Weston McKinney, Tyler Adams, Antonee Robinson. Christian Pulisic is a very high-end athlete with top speed and dynamic.

What I love about Pochettino is he's figured out a way to feature that part of the guys' game. Knowing they still have the quality and they can still dig in and fight a little bit and be aggressive, but trying to find ways to allow these guys to be dynamic... allowing the team to play at a high intensity and press teams and transition quickly and a little bit more unpredictability in the final third.

He's set some very high standards, and he's able to do that as well because he's a big figure. He's had a lot of success and he's a high-profile manager who has coached at some of the biggest clubs in the world. Day 1, he commands a lot of respect from that locker room. It's not to say Gregg Berhalter's tenure was a failure. For the first four years, Gregg was exactly what the young players needed - a fatherly figure who created a culture and identity of what it meant to play for the national team again.

But we saw in the second cycle, he'd taken them as far as he could. You needed a guy like Pochettino to push that bar higher and try to break the ceiling of what we feel this team is capable of.

GOAL: You were on the squads of Jurgen Klinsmann, who was the last big name foreign manager to coach the USMNT. How does the vibe compare to what you're seeing now?

HOLDEN: It's hard for me to directly compare because I haven't been in a camp with Poch yet... I had a good experience with Jurgen and I really enjoyed when I was going through a really tough period in my career with injuries and he was the manager - when I got wrecked at Man United after Johnny Evans tore my knee to shreds.

He flew over to England and traveled to the middle of nowhere in Bolton and watched me play a reserve game. I played terrible. I was in the locker room at halftime. I was crying. He came in and kind of consoled me. I was in that point where I thought I'd never get back to where I was. And so I saw that side of him, which I thought was very good, and he understood and managed personalities and character as well. I think where Jurgen struggled was with the tactical side of the international game.

Pochettino - he's a guy who has coached some of the top pros and top teams in football. He brings a fresh prospective, a bit more South American and Argentine style. Like "We're going to cut you and we're going to do everything we can to win this game" type of vibe. And that's what I've loved seeing from him so far.

GOAL: You've been around a lot of special USMNT players in your playing days - where does Christian Pulisic rank for you?

HOLDEN: I'm knocking on wood over here, but I think he'll go down as the best U.S. Soccer player by the time he's done, and he might be already in terms of what he's achieved on the club level. Champions League winner [and then you add] his goals to assists to appearances ratio for the U.S. How he will fully cement that legacy is just by being the guy in '26. He came in with the pressure, kind of like Landon Donovan did when he was an up-and-coming national team player at 20 going to World Cup. These guys in Landon and Christian, I can't relate to having to carry that amount of pressure and expectation every time you put the jersey on...Talent alone, he will be the best U.S. Soccer player of all-time.

GOAL: OK, but is he already better than Landon or Clint Dempsey?

HOLDEN: Yeah, I had Clint up there. With Clint and Landon, people go back and forth on that. What nudged Clint ahead, was his consistency in playing in Europe - at Fulham and Tottenham. Being Fulham's best player for a long period of time in the Premier League. Then going to Tottenham, being written off, and finding his way on the team. I'm going to say yes, I think Christian [is better].

GOAL: As a former midfielder, is there any guy in the current USMNT group that reminds you of yourself?

HOLDEN: Luca de la Torre plays in a way that's similar to me. We both like to be on the ball - bit of an attacking midfielder. I played a little bit more higher tempo and tackling and aggressive. Some people have said at one point Djordje Mihailovic was kind of in my player profile type -- set pieces, goal scorer, running deep runs into the box. But no, this group is far more powerful than what I would compare myself to and what the capacity is physically - these guys have to play at a high intensity.... One of the biggest challenges I feel for Pochettino is to find the right balance in midfield and forward. I don't really worry about our team in that part of the field....I think center back will be a concern for that team.

GOAL: How big of a concern is center back for you?

HOLDEN: Tim Ream has been our best center back for about two and a half years now, and he's not getting younger [at 37]. I love him, he's a former teammate, and he's been a such a leader at the back and a calming influence. He's by far the best ball passer out of the back as well, and that really helps the dynamic of the team. I know that's why Pochettino likes him and he's a natural lefty.... He's a leader on the field, and then also he can break pressure, because he's very calm on the ball. And I just don't see anybody that is pushing Ream.

Chris Richards has had some injury problems recently so he's kind of a question mark in the back. Mark McKenzie is good, but not great. Cameron Carter-Vickers has always kind of just been like the No. 3 center back. Auston Trusty moved to Celtic. There's just, like, a lot of those types of guys that nobody's really pushed through that ceiling and been like "I'm going to get Ream out of there, or I'm playing aside him." That's why it's one of my biggest concerns.

GOAL: What about goalkeeper?

HOLDEN: I'm with you on goalkeeper, like who's [No. 1?] I'm not confident with Matt Turner playing at goal. He's not playing and he chose to go to Crystal Palace on loan as a backup? That frustrated me as to [his] ambition. [You go from] being the starter at Nottingham Forest and losing your place. Previously being the backup at Arsenal and being fine with playing 10 games a year? It's a little bit different at Arsenal [being the backup] than Crystal Palace. Like, what are you doing? He's got to be making a move to a club where he's going to play.

GOAL: Even if that means MLS?

HOLDEN: Sure. He succeeded and made his name in MLS. I think there would be a lot of value in him playing every week in MLS as opposed to hitting the pine in Crystal Palace.

Dec. 12: Turner, Apple TV analyst Brian Dunseth on Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna and USMNT's future under Mauricio Pochettino

Dec. 5: Anibaba on MLS Cup predictions, Inter Miami hiring Javier Mascherano and MLS's 'disheartening' coaching diversity issue

Nov. 21: Telemundo's Andres Cantor on Mauricio Pochettino's Argentine mindset, the USMNT and having a front-row seat for the rise of the American game

Nov. 16: Apple TV analyst Matt Doyle assesses Inter Miami's defensive 'insanity,' whether Neymar could join Lionel Messi, MLS Cup favorite

Nov. 7: Gary Neville talks USMNT World Cup hopes, 'hell of a player' Christian Pulisic, 'relentless' David Beckham, and Cristiano Ronaldo to MLS

Oct. 31: Herculez Gomez on Mauricio Pochettino's impact, the USMNT's 'wide-open' striker race, and a player pool 'that lacks accountability'

Oct. 29: NBC's Rebecca Lowe on the growth of soccer, the 'incredible' Emma Hayes and 'profile-raising' Mauricio Pochettino

Oct. 24: Apple TV's Andrew Wiebe on MLS playoffs, Lionel Messi's 'nuclear form' and how Inter Miami can become league's 'greatest team of all time

Oct. 17: Jamie Carragher talks USMNT, slams Man City over legal case, questions Maurico Pochettino despite 'great' hire