An abhoration or the start of a trend?

A piece this week on ESPNFC discussing the move of former MLS forward and Jamaican International Ryan Johnson from the Portland Timbers to the Chinese Super League and now the Korean K-League raised an eyebrow for me.  The fact is that in the future, MLS will not only face a challenge of keeping domestic talent from leaving to one of the big european leagues, but may very well face the challenge of retaining talent from the developing and lucrative Asian football market.

Having american footballers practice their craft in Asia is a foreign concept to the growing legion of U.S. soccer fans.  For me however as a supporter of the Honduran National Team, having players from my country play professionally in Thailand, Malaysia and China for example is common practice.  For years now Honduran footballers like Georgie Welcome, Mitchell Brown, Osman Chavez, Walter Martinez and Emil Martinez to name a few of many played professionally in Eastern Asia.  Most if not all of these footballers had the skill to play in MLS (Walter Martinez did in fact play for San Jose for a season). Many chose to play in Asia because of the fact they can make significantly more money in Asia than they could in Major League Soccer or any other league in the CONCACAF region.

Could we begin seeing this trend in Major League Soccer where we might start losing out talent to China, Korea or even Malaysia?  Is Ryan Johnson who had a successful career in his eight years at Major League Soccer be an anomaly or the beginning of a larger movement?  Time will tell but it would be keen for MLS owners and the powers that be in New York City to not ignore what Johnson has done.  In fact they should pay very close attention.

Ryan Johnson in China

When Ryan Johnson left Major League Soccer he was making $144,000 according to the MLS players union.  He more than doubled his yearly wage by moving to the Chinese Super League.  According to the ESPNFC piece linked previously, Johnson has taken a slight pay cut but still making significantly more money in China than he would with Major League Soccer by signing a new two year contract to play professionally in Korea.

Major League Soccer is in prime position to take significant advantage of the countless sins that have been committed economically and due to corruption in European Leagues like Seria A and La Liga.  You can't tell me that the signing of Sebastian Giovinco by Toronto FC is not a clear sign of the continuing rise of MLS and reflective of the troubles going on in Italy within the sport.

As a league however MLS needs to make sure they are not only attracting players at the 'DP' level that make seven figure salaries.  Commissioner Garber and team owners need to make sure they are taking care of all players and make sure that we can compete as a league with other emerging markets.  MLS needs to be proactive and this current CBA negotiation is the perfect time to address this possible issue.

I respect Major League Soccer conservative approach and single entity model that was a requisite for the league to get to where it currently is. Its time however to continue investing talent and make sure we are not only taking care of the Kaka's, Frank Lampard's, Clint Dempsey's and other big name DP that attract the big headlines.  It is also time to take care of financially to the other 96% of your players economically.  If not, Ryan Johnson might not be an aberration but the beginning of an unfavorable drift for MLS.