How Cristian Pavon’s LA Galaxy move shows how MLS is now seen in South America
Cristian Pavon is helping the global expansion of MLS, but will he be enough to bridge the South American gap?
It all started with Miguel Almiron.
Well, not really. Countless well-regarded South Americans had made the move to Major League Soccer long before the Paraguayan playmaker pitched up at Atlanta United in the winter of 2016.
But something about the then expansion franchise’s signing of Almiron felt different.
Indeed, it set a precedent. Almiron, as a highly rated youngster in the Argentine Primera Division for Lanus, had been linked with lucrative moves to Europe. Arsenal and Chelsea had even been mentioned as potential suitors. And yet he landed in Atlanta. The signaled a shift in the landscape in North American soccer.
Atlanta’s signing of Almiron sparked a trend, with talented South Americans increasingly looking to MLS as a career launchpad. The subsequent sale of Almiron to Newcastle United only accelerated this. MLS clubs can now, with evidence to point to, sell themselves to prospective signings as stepping stones to even bigger and better things.
Venezuelan Josef Martinez followed Almiron to Atlanta, with Argentine teenager Ezequiel Barco and Pity Martinez also making the move to Mercedes Benz Stadium. Then there was Uruguayan Diego Rossi’s switch to Los Angeles FC and Brian Fernandez’s transfer to the Portland Timbers earlier this year.
Given this trend, the news of Cristian Pavon’s move to the LA Galaxy this week didn’t make the waves it would have in the past. The 23-year-old is an Argentina international, called up to La Albiceleste’s 23-man squad for last summer’s World Cup. He has been a staple of the European gossip column for a while, with Watford the most recent Premier League club to be linked with a move. Arsenal were believed to be interested as recently as last summer.
The deal that has taken Pavon to California from Boca Juniors is a tough one to decipher. The forward has joined on an initial loan contract, but with a $20 million option to buy written in. Cynics say it has been structured in this way to circumvent MLS rules. Others claim both the LA Galaxy and Boca Juniors are hedging their bets after a slump in form from Pavon over the past year or so. A reunion with former boss Guillermo Barros Schelotto, it is hoped, will restore him as a force.
If the former point is true then Pavon’s signing also demonstrates the way in which MLS clubs are being held back by league rules. The salary cap served a purpose while several teams were still finding their feet early on in the development of North American soccer, but now it feels like training wheels screwed to a motorcycle. The LA Galaxy still found a way to sign Pavon, but the structure of the deal says a lot.
This transfer underlines the change in the way MLS is selling itself. The league has gone through a number of different phases in its 23-year existence. The first decade was simply about staying alive. Then the watershed arrival of David Beckham in 2007 saw ageing European stars targeted in an attempt to catch the mainstream eye.
There was also a brief period in which MLS prioritised the signing of American stars playing aboard, with Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Joey Altidore all returning in big-money moves. Since then, however, the focus has shifted again. MLS wants to position itself as a platform for younger players of the highest stock.
Work permit rules in Europe, particularly the Premier League, means MLS can take more of a risk in signing South American talent. Pavon might have joined the Galaxy to be reunited with Schelotto, but he might also see MLS as the start of a path that ultimately leads him to England. He may tread the path trodden by Almiron. Pavon wouldn’t be the first, and won’t be the last, South American to be sold on this prospect.