HANOVER, N.J. — Jesse Marsch has a unique vantage point when it comes to global icons signing with Major League Soccer.
As a player at Chivas USA, he was on the other side of what was then known as the Home Depot Center when David Beckham signed with the LA Galaxy in 2007. He also famously nearly came to blows with Becks in the original Los Angeles SuperClasico.
Then, as coach of the New York Red Bulls, he was on the other side of the Hudson River when New York City FC signed David Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo.
So who better to offer an opinion on megastar Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s move from Manchester United to the LA Galaxy?
“What an incredible player and a winner, everywhere he’s been he’s been a winner,” Marsch said following training Thursday. “Obviously circumstances are a little different, but he’s a great talent. Obviously he’ll be fun to watch. He also has this sort of energy that is very entertaining for everyone.”
Ibrahimovic arrives in Los Angeles 11 years after Beckham’s splash brought a worldwide awareness to MLS when the “retirement league” stigma still hung over its head.
And although Villa has proven to be the exception to the rule, aging superstars like Lampard, Pirlo and Steven Gerrard with the LA Galaxy struggled with the pace and physicality of MLS and further fueled that storyline as they each flamed out.
But over the past two years, the focus has shifted in MLS. Now, the league has young international stars, players like Miguel Almiron and Ezequiel Barco of Atlanta United FC and Yangel Herrera and Jesus Medina of NYCFC, others who have come up through club academy setups like Tyler Adams of the Red Bulls and Alphonso Davies of Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
The influx of Targeted Allocation Money has deepened rosters and there’s an influx of new ideas from coaches domestic and abroad.
According to Marsch, MLS doesn’t quite need Ibra the way it needed Beckham.
“I think, as a league, we’re not in need of the superstar player like we used to be. I think we’re more in need of quality product on the field,” Marsch said. “Now, a superstar player can bring that, but I think what’s more important is the league has great teams now and great coaches, great styles of play from club to club and it provides a real entertaining league for the fans and something fans can attach themselves to.
“Obviously a player like Ibrahimovic coming will always draw attention, but I do think our league has grown where that’s not necessarily the overall talking point.”