Star Footballers Who Almost Joined MLS

Several big names in football nearly made moves to Major League Soccer, but these deals did not go through.

A report by the Economic Times on Friday mentioned Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, and Neymar were all linked to moves to the United States at different times in their careers.

In 2022, Ronaldo was nearing the end of his four-year stay at Juventus. At 37, he was thinking about his next steps.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner caught the eye of clubs in Saudi Arabia and, at that time, Manchester City.

MLS teams also looked into signing the Portugal star. LA Galaxy and Inter Miami were two clubs interested in Ronaldo, while Sporting Kansas City became a serious contender.

Ronaldo was on Sporting Kansas City's discovery list. This gave the club the chance to negotiate with him before other MLS teams.

Reports say there were several meetings between the club and Ronaldo's representatives over a month. They got to a stage where a move seemed likely.

But financing the deal turned out to be a big challenge. Also, convincing Ronaldo to join MLS was another difficulty.

In the end, Ronaldo went in a different direction. Unhappy at Manchester United during his second spell, he took a big offer from Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr.

Another star from Real Madrid, Luka Modric, also drew interest from MLS.

As the Croatian midfielder's contract with Madrid was nearing its end in 2024, San Diego FC and Inter Miami showed interest in bringing him to the US.

Modric decided to extend his Real Madrid contract for another year. He ended his time at the Bernabeu as captain before moving to AC Milan in July 2025.

San Diego FC also looked into signing two other famous former Real Madrid players, defender Sergio Ramos and goalkeeper Keylor Navas, but those deals did not happen.

Neymar was another big name who could have added more star power to MLS.

Inter Miami dreamed of bringing together the famous Barcelona trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Neymar in the US.

But the idea of seeing these three former Barcelona stars reunited in MLS faded when Neymar agreed to a one-year contract extension with Santos in January 2026.

With that contract set to end in December, Neymar is expected to retire from professional football. This brings an end to the chance of an MLS reunion with Messi and Suárez.

Though none of these moves happened, the interest in Ronaldo, Modric, Ramos, Navas, and Neymar shows that MLS is becoming a more appealing destination for top football names.