Wayne Rooney: MLS owners take 'advantage' of trade, transfer system
Wayne Rooney has more thoughts on Major League Soccer.
The former D.C. United standout, who left MLS in August 2019 with two years left on his contract to join England second-tier Derby County as a player/coach, says owners are “taking advantage” of the league’s trade and transfer system.
Speaking on Perfect Soccer’s “Ask A Pro Show” — hosted by Rooney’s former D.C. United teammate Quincy Amarikwa — Rooney said MLS owners are exploiting their players, and Americans in particular are getting the worst of it.
And it didn’t take him long to realize it.
“My first week, we had a player who, when he finished training, he got told he was getting transferred onto somewhere else,” Rooney said on the show. “I was like, ‘Why? What’s going on here? Where is he going? What’s going on? ... It’s that easy to do.”
Even though Rooney may have benefited from the system, it didn’t sit right with him.
“I know it works that way in basketball [NBA] and in NFL, but those players get paid millions and millions of pounds. So, they can afford to actually do that, where MLS players can’t. They get a small percentage of money, which won’t even cover the bills, won’t even cover what they have to live on.
“It’s wrong for that to happen. I think MLS needs to really look at that because, from seeing it, a lot of them owners are taking advantage of the league [structure], which is affecting American players. It might benefit [others]. For me, I went there for 18 months, Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] was there for 2 years. We benefited from getting good adaptation in the USA and scoring a few goals. But for the guys who you leave behind, which I’ve never gotten to speak to, it still sits wrong with me, deep inside of me.”
Rooney also talked about the coronavirus pandemic and much more during the show (check it out here; it's worth your time.).
“I fear for those players in MLS. I know how MLS is run,” Rooney said. “I really do fear for the players in the next two or three months. ...
“No one knows this might happen again. When it does you have to be in the best position to handle yourself, handle your family. It’s a very strange time for everyone.”
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