Fourteen months ago, Don Garber raised eyebrows around North American soccer when he declared that MLS needed “to become more of a selling league.”



Selling players is the norm elsewhere, but MLS transferring its most marketable stars abroad was never part of the league’s business plan. That the commissioner publicly called on his clubs to begin selling players was more than just noteworthy — it was a seismic shift.



“We have to have something that turns the model around or it’s going to be unsustainable,” Garber said at his December 2018 state of the league address ahead of MLS Cup in Atlanta.



Garber’s words confirmed a shift in strategy that was already becoming apparent. A few months before, the Vancouver Whitecaps agreed to move Alphonso Davies to Bayern Munich for a then-league-record fee worth at least $13 million. Earlier that week, the New York Red Bulls sold Tyler Adams to parent club RB...