How MLS sparked North America’s invasion of European football

For years MLS was seen as a retirement league. But the flow of talent now appears to be crossing the Atlantic from west to east

If any evidence was needed to prove European clubs are increasingly looking to Major League Soccer for talent, it came in the January transfer window. No fewer than 33 players left North American soccer's top flight to head across the Atlantic with two of those players (Daryl Dike and Ricardo Pepi) entering the list for the top five most expensive transfers in MLS history.

Bundesliga club Augsburg made Pepi their club-record signing while Dike joined West Brom. Teenager Kevin Paredes left DC United for Wolfsburg, James Sands signed for Rangers on loan from New York City FC and George Bello joined Arminia Bielefeld, having made his breakthrough at Atlanta United. Even after the January transfer window closed, Arsenal completed a deal that will see US men's national team goalkeeper Matt Turner move to London this summer.