Footballers are attracted to America for a number of reasons. It’s a great country to spend your final years as a professional, with good weather and a better standard of living in many cases.
In recent years, we’ve seen a couple of former Manchester United players head across the pond.
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For instance, the six years David Beckham spent in the United States with LA Galaxy made such an impact on the former England captain, he decided to buy his own franchise, Inter Miami, as revealed by Goal a month ago.
Other players have followed suit, such as Basitian Schweinsteiger, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney.
However, it has been revealed by the MLS that Ibrahimovic has sold more shirts than any other player in 2018, while Rooney and Schweinsteiger also feature in the top 10.
The Swede has 22 goals in 26 games for La Galaxy but Rooney is being held responsible for turning DC United’s season around since his arrival. They were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table after winning just three games out of 17 prior to signing Manchester United’s all-time top goalscorer (256 goals), yet his influence has led them to the play-offs months later.
Rooney, who sold the fourth most shirts in the MLS this year, has scored 12 goals and assisted six in 19 games for DC United. A remarkable record for a 33-year-old to turn his new club’s season around.
What Wayne Rooney has done at @dcunited since he arrived in #MLS has been sensational.
✅19 games
⚽12 goals
⭐6 assistsYes, more home games has helped #DCU after stadium move
DC United were last in the Eastern Conference before his first game
They’ve now made the playoffs https://t.co/OAuDb60Knz
— Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) October 21, 2018
It’s an incredible record and shows how Rooney didn’t just head to America to retire on his last big pay-day. He went to win.
Meanwhile, Schweinsteiger of Chicago Fire is ranked sixth for MLS shirt sales.
The full list can be seen in order below, as per mlsstore.com:
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LA Galaxy
- Carlos Vela, LAFC
- Josef Martinez, Atlanta United
- Wayne Rooney, D.C. United
- Miguel Almiron, Atlanta United
- Bastian Schweinsteiger, Chicago Fire
- David Villa, NYCFC
- Sebastian Giovinco, Toronto FC
- Clint Dempsey, Seattle Sounders
- Ezequiel Barco, Atlanta United
- Diego Valeri, Portland Timbers
- Diego Rossi, LAFC
- Bradley Wright-Phillips, New York Red Bulls
- Giovani dos Santos, LA Galaxy
- Darlington Nagbe, Atlanta United
- Jozy Altidore, Toronto FC
- Alphonso Davies, Vancouver Whitecaps
- Hector Villalba, Atlanta United
- Dom Dwyer, Orlando City
- Luciano Acosta, D.C. United
- Graham Zusi, Sporting KC
- Cristian Roldan, Seattle Sounders
- Darwin Quintero Jr., Minnesota United
- Paul Arriola, D.C. United
- Diego Chara, Portland Timbers
