The coast of the Pacific Ocean, the year-round Mediterranean climate, the sprawling parks, the birthplace of California… It seems an idyllic landscape to start selling another American dream to football players from the rest of the world and to the best of the best who have been through it all and conquered it; the perfect place for a relaxed retreat.The establishment of new clubs and the promotion of football in as many cities as possible has become one of the priority sports goals in the USA in the past decades. Since 2015 alone, as many as 11 clubs have debuted in the MLS League, and the entry into the top tier of each of them was accompanied by hype surrounding the potential signings of players from Europe. New York City, Orlando City, Atlanta United, Minnesota United, Cincinnati, Inter Miami, Nashville, Austin, Charlotte, St. Louis City. These are all teams that played in the MLS for the first time in the previous nine years, a large number of them entered the MLS right after their founding, and the same will be the case with San Diego. In order to have an insight into the ambitions of the league executives, it is enough to say that the “registration fee” for entering the league costs 500,000,000 dollars.##NAJAVA_MECA_8103902##The club, founded on May 18, 2023, will become the 30th member of Major League Soccer starting next spring, and after the official announcement of that information in March, the club’s management quickly got down to the task of forming the playing staff. As San Diego has the same owner as Nordsjælland, it has already capitulated two players from the Danish Superliga, Marcus Ingvartsen and Jeppe Tverskov, and after the acquisitions from the sister club, it aimed for significantly more famous ones. Prominent entrepreneur, investor with deep connections in football Mohamed Mansour decided to attract Sergio Ramos and Kevin De Bruyne to the team.The 38-year-old Spaniard’s contract with Sevilla expires at the end of the season, and the legendary Real Madrid defender is in advanced negotiations with a potential employer, and according to information from the Athletic, the veteran sees his future exclusively in the USA. If the situation with Ramos is more or less clear, San Diego faces a significantly more difficult task in order to sign Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian still has a lot to show at the top level, but the newly formed club is ready to offer the 33-year-old midfielder a contract of around 20,500,000 dollars per year, which is the same as Messi’s contract with Inter from Miami (of course, with various bonuses for the Argentine’s earnings is significantly higher than the one mentioned). All of that would be made possible by the so-called Beckham rule – that three players in the team can be paid more than $1,600,000. It was established in 2007 when the Englishman signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007.JUST IN: MLS expansion side San Diego FC is in advanced talks with Spanish defender Sergio Ramos, sources tell @tombogert. Ramos is not expected to renew his deal with Sevilla and will be a free agent this summer, two sources said.Details ⤵️https://t.co/SL0G6MQpRE pic.twitter.com/MikWLXCu2C— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 13, 2024 With the inception of San Diego, the famous expression “American dream” could also take on a literal meaning, since the owner Mohamed Mansour is also the first man of the football academy “Right to Dream” tasked with recruiting the most talented players from Ghana to Nordsjaelland. Now San Diego could do the same with Mexican players. Since the city of three million people is only 80 kilometers from the border, with a huge number of Latinos among its residents, there is a great chance for the popularization of the club based on Mexican talents. Spanish media write about San Diego’s interest in Guillermo Ochoa and Hirving Lozano, as the first targets among players from the neighborhood.The fact that the co-owner of the club is a member of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, gives the whole story additional interest. It is not sensational, if you know that San Diego is the historical home of the Native Americans, and that the city is called the birthplace of California. The reason for all this lies in the fact that San Diego was the first place settled by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. After landing in the 16th century, Iberian maritime explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later.All of the above gives full legitimacy to San Diego becoming one of the most picturesque stories in the world of ‘soccer’ in the coming years.
