Neymar's Potential Move to MLS: A Double-Edged Sword
Major League Soccer has always loved a marquee name. From David Beckham’s first splash in Los Angeles to the late-career tours of Steven Gerrard, Kaka, Andrea Pirlo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney, the league has built much of its global profile on imported star power.
Lionel Messi took that tradition and detonated it in 2023. Enticed to Inter Miami by Beckham himself, the Argentine icon has become the league’s travelling circus and crown jewel rolled into one, a guarantee of sold-out stadiums and surging TV interest wherever he appears.
Now comes the next rumour: Neymar, struggling to reignite his career back at Santos, could be the latest superstar to chase the American dream in the Sunshine State.
On paper, it’s box office. Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer, reunited with Messi and Luis Suarez, in a city built for spectacle. For sponsors and broadcasters, it sells itself. For a 34-year-old who has battled injuries and inconsistency for club and country, it also looks like a soft landing.
But is it what MLS needs?
‘MLS are making mistakes’
Giuseppe Rossi, the former Real Salt Lake forward who now serves as Head of Soccer at the New York Cosmos, is not convinced. Speaking to GOAL in association with BetBrothers, he didn’t bother sugar-coating his view of the league’s obsession with big names.
“This is where MLS are making mistakes, and they continue to make these mistakes,” he said. “It’s great marketing, it is what it is, but what kind of product are you putting on the field?”
Rossi’s criticism cuts deeper than one transfer rumour. For him, the idea of bringing Neymar to Miami to reunite him with Messi and Suarez goes to the heart of what MLS wants to be.
“Bringing Neymar back to reunite him with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, what are you trying to become as a league?” he asked. “If it’s to get to the level of the big boys out in Europe like the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and those competitions, you’re moving at a snail’s pace but MLS is very thirsty for clicks and views, and they don’t really care about the standard of the football itself.”
The league has undeniably grown. Franchise valuations have rocketed. Expansion fees have soared. Stadiums are filling. On the business side, MLS looks like a runaway success.
Rossi isn’t impressed by balance sheets.
“Yes, they have made great strides, and well done to them for that. The valuations of the clubs are high and it’s a great business model but what about the football? Is that growing and moving forward? I don’t think so, and that’s something that has to change.”
‘They only care about the valuations’
For Rossi, the problem starts at the very top.
“The problem is that the people in charge don’t really care. They only care about the valuations. That’s the problem when you put these billionaires in charge of a league,” he said.
From that perspective, Neymar to MLS is a dream. Another global superstar. Another wave of attention. Another spike in metrics.
“They’d love to see Neymar come to MLS and play with Messi again but it’s not going to grow MLS as a football league. That’s what I think.”
The irony is that Rossi is no Neymar sceptic. Quite the opposite. He believes the Brazilian still has plenty to offer on the pitch and would be a thrill to watch in the United States.
“If Neymar could make the move to Miami, why not? It would be great for him, and he’s still a great player. I freaking love Neymar. He’s one of the best players of his generation and I think everybody would love to see him play, and that’s great for the fans and everything else.”
Then he draws the line.
“I just look at it another way because there are pros and cons to everything, and yes everybody wants to see Neymar but it does take away from the integrity of the products itself by making MLS into even more of a circus than a true football league.”
A second act for ‘MSN’?
There is, of course, a footballing argument for the move. Neymar’s greatest club years came alongside Messi and Suarez at Barcelona, where the ‘MSN’ trio terrorised Europe. A shift from South America back to the Americas’ north could, in theory, jolt him back to life.
His contract at Santos runs out at the end of the year. Once that expires, the path to Miami is clear. If Inter Miami and MLS decide the gamble is worth taking, the league would be bracing itself for another wave of global attention.
The timing is intriguing. From the 2027-28 season, MLS plans to move to a European-style calendar, a structural shift that the league hopes will align it more closely with the game’s traditional powerhouses.
Messi, despite hinting at retirement, is under contract through 2028 and is expected to be part of that new era. Suarez would need another extension to stay in Miami long enough to complete the reunion and give ‘MSN’ a second life on American soil.
If Neymar does walk through the door in Miami, MLS will get exactly what it has always craved: noise, cameras, headlines. The real question is whether it will finally get what Rossi says it still lacks – a league defined by its football, not just its famous faces.
