Not many football blogs out there venture to make a comparison between the mighty Premier League and the MLS. But that's exactly what we will do because MLS has struck a major blow by beating out the Prem for a top European talent.
It's a move that has caused an uproar last Friday at Chicago's O'Hare Airport reminiscent of when the city's baseball Cubs won a rare championship. Die-hard fans of Chicago Fire were on hand to greet Nemanja Nikolic, one of Hungary's best players.
Making this deal even sweeter is that Nikolic chose Chicago despite being the top transfer target of English Premier League powerhouse Hull City. That's right, the same club U.S. player of the year Jozy Altidore once plied his trade for. Apparently, Nikolic took a look at Altidore's Hull strike rate of one goal in 28 matches and decided to head to the MLS.
Nikolic played five Champions League group-stages matches for Legia Warsaw, starting twice. He was a substitute twice against Christian Pulisic's Borussia Dortmund and scored this amazing goal at the Signal Iduna Park. Fast forward to 2:27 ...
Clearly MLS scouts did plenty of work watching Group F matches, with Legia Warsaw earning a Europa League place with a minus-15 goal differential that matched Dinamo Zagreb for the competition's worst. Surely, Nikolic's move to the MLS will draw other notable players from Group F to take the league seriously; Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembele and our Pulisic competed fiercely against Nikolic and have to be wondering how Chicago Fire beat out Hull City.
Maybe your humble blogger was wrong because maybe the MLS is on the rise. Enjoy this victory over the Premier League, American football fans!
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