For most of the league’s existence, high-profile players in MLS have tended to fit into one of two categories: young prospects, from home or abroad, who have been developed in-house, and established stars who have moved Stateside to wind down their careers.
In recent seasons, though, a look across MLS’s most consistent high-performing players reveals a third class of imports – a group of mid-prime stars who have moved to North America with the aim of kickstarting stalled careers.