5 best players to move from Europe to MLS

#1 David Beckham

Beckham's signing was a coup for MLS

When David Beckham moved to LA Galaxy in 2007, it was a major coup for MLS. The England star was an icon of the game during his spells at Manchester United and Real Madrid, which spanned 15 years.

His arrival was greeted with the kind of fanfare one would expect for a global superstar, with 5,000 fans gathered at the Home Depot Center, with over quarter of a million Beckham branded jerseys sold before he had so much been unveiled as an LA Galaxy player.

“I'm coming there not to be a superstar. I'm coming there to be part of the team, to work hard and to hopefully win things,” he said, distancing himself from his own brand.

“With me, it's about football. I'm coming there to make a difference. I'm coming there to play football.

“I'm not saying me coming over to the States is going to make soccer the biggest sport in America. That would be difficult to achieve. Baseball, basketball, American football, they've been around. But I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I could make a difference.”

He spent his summers playing for LA and had a couple of loan stints with AC Milan during the winter, proving that he had not lost any of his ability to play at the highest level.

He would spend four complete seasons with the Galaxy, with his last – the 2012 campaign – the most successful as he scored seven times in 24 outings.

Although Beckham failed to win any major silverware in the US, he returned to Europe for one last hurrah with Paris Saint-Germain, while he is now making progress towards a Miami franchise for MLS, which is set for action in 2020.