Although Major League Soccer introduced the Designated Player rule in 2007, it took several years for people to use its proper title. Instead, the world referred to it in a more specific way: “the David Beckham rule.”



In a salary-cap-based league where players' salaries would sometimes start as low as $12,900 per season, the league needed a new way to bring in better talent. By letting teams spend outside of the salary cap for (now) up to three players, it opened up a new host of options across the global market. The first, and easily most iconic, player of the initial crop was Beckham, a Manchester United legend who mixed a supermodel's appeal with an otherworldly right foot.



He also arrived approaching the age of 32 with little left to prove in order to cement his footballing legacy. It began a dangerous trend. His biggest counterpart in 2007, Mexican icon Cuauhtémoc Blanco, joined the Chicago Fire at 34. The New York Red Bulls doubled down with...