Robbie Keane has admitted he fears for the future of Major League Soccer, insisting they need to keep attracting top stars to maintain its popularity with fans.

Irish hitman Keane, 36, left LA Galaxy at the end of 2016 after a prolific five seasons, where he netted 104 goals in 165 appearances and claimed three titles.

Keane told talkSPORT he leaves the United States with the MLS in a state of flux, with a number of the league’s top stars having already left, including English legends Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard last year, or likely to be on their way out.

The likes of David Villa, Andrea Pirlo and Kaka still ply their trade across the Atlantic, but their long-term futures are far from secured – especially with a bigger payday in China now in the offing.

Sharing his thoughts on the MLS and his departure from the Galaxy, Keane told talkSPORT host Jim White: “When I arrived in 2011, it was just starting to really, really grow. After a couple of years you could start seeing the stadiums really filling up.

“Now they’re at a great level in terms of the fans watching the game, the TV rights and the rest of it.

“I had an unbelievable time there…but they just have to be careful now because some of the big players have left, and at the end of the day people want to watch names – that’s the just the reality.

“Myself, Gerrard, Lampard and a few of the other big players are just starting to drift out, and now they’re going down to route where they want younger players who are not really well known.

“That is a good thing I think, but people do want to watch big names.

“They have to be careful – they’ve set a high standard that they have to keep going and I’m not sure if they go down this route they’ll be able to do that.

“So I’m a little bit worried about that.”

Listen to talkSPORT’s full interview with Robbie Keane IN FULL above!