Beckham sprinkled his stardust and more players are crossing the pond - so is the MLS booming or is the US just a place Premier League careers go to die?

How do you measure the success of a league? If it’s by rising attendances at matches, steady improvement in playing standard on the field and a sustainable financial model in place off it, Major League Soccer ought to be talked about in the same breath as the oft-hailed Bundesliga.



It hasn’t happened quickly enough for FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who in December publicly bemoaned the slow growth of MLS from its 1993 inception. But let’s be honest, since when has Blatter been a true barometer of progress? Look closely and you’ll see MLS is moving pragmatically, albeit gradually, in the right direction.

And it's being done with the help of a host of familiar Premier League faces.

MLS Recruit: Obafemi Martins has joined Seattle Sounders

Take the recent signing of former Newcastle and Birmingham striker Obafemi Martins by Seattle Sounders as a good example.



There was a time when a European-based player of the Nigerian's reputation would only countenance MLS as a lucrative last dance before retirement. Seattle managed to get their man at 28 despite the fact his Spanish club Levante were resistant to the deal. It was a coup for both the Sounders and the allure of the league they play in.



'I’m still very ambitious, still hungry for lots of success so hopefully I can contribute a lot at Sounders and I hope it goes well,' Martins said of the move, his appetite evident in the epic trip he made from Madrid to Seattle to Nigeria over the weekend, in order to make a 20-minute debut for the Sounders on Saturday and fly out Sunday morning to report for World Cup duty with the Super Eagles.



La Liga exit: Martins left Levante to move to the US

Martins does not see MLS as the denouement to a career; rather an exciting opportunity in the land that was built on them.



When you consider he’ll be playing home games in a stadium that drew a record average crowd of 43,144 for the 2012 season - more than regularly pack in to watch Chelsea and not far off the number who turn up at Anfield - you begin to understand his excitement.

MLS crowds generally were up last season. An average attendance of 18,807 made for the seventh-most popular football league in the world in terms of bums on seats.



Biggest star in the Galaxy: Beckham moved to Los Angeles amid a blaze of publicity in 2007

Hollywood ending: Beckham and his sons celebrate the MLS Cup win in his final game

Paltry television viewing figures for MLS in the US remain a cause for concern, however, as evidenced by a drop in the number who watched the 2012 MLS Cup from the previous season’s final. Not even David Beckham’s walk off into the sunset could save that one.

No talk of MLS progress is complete without referencing Beckham’s legacy of course. Having arrived at LA Galaxy from Real Madrid in 2007, the world’s most bankable footballer played a defining role in building the profile of the league.



Even when things weren’t going right on the pitch, Beckham was still selling the Galaxy brand and putting MLS in places it had never before been able to reach.



Beckham made everything to come possible. Seven new MLS franchises launched during his five years in LA, and the increased profile he generated for the league has helped lure the likes of Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane, Carlo Cudicini and Alessandro Nesta to bring their considerable reputations in his wake.

Keane to raise the profile: The Ireland striker (left) has followed Beckham to America

Republic of Ireland striker Keane has won two MLS Cups in two seasons at LA Galaxy and was named in the league's best XI for 2012.



Among the other ex-Premier League players to be found in the US include former West Brom midfielder Giles Barnes, now plying his trade at Houston Dynamo, and Wales striker Robert Earnshaw, who arrived at Toronto FC this season.



Former Arsenal and Manchester United full back Mikael Silvestre is another recent arrival. The Frenchman signed for Portland Timbers this season, whose goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts will also be a familiar name to those who follow the lower reaches of the English game. And then there's Tim Cahill, the Australian who left Everton to join Henry at New York Red Bulls in 2012.

New York Red Bulls team-mates: Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill, respectively once of Arsenal and Everton

Tim Cahill

It’s not just the quality of players arriving in the MLS that we should be looking as testament to progress. There’s also the evidence supplied by MLS graduates able to adjust to supposedly superior leagues when they leave.



Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley are shining examples. Brek Shea is early in his career at Stoke but already being talked about as a potential Premier League game-changer. Meanwhile, American goalkeepers are everywhere.



Could the Premier League one day have enough faith in the MLS to use it as a feeder league? It may be a natural next step, especially when you consider the desire of English clubs to market themselves aggressively in the US market.

Premier League exports: Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and Mikael Silvestre

Everywhere you look there are signs the MLS is building slowly on its foundation — one laid on the back of the US hosting the 1994 World Cup.



We shouldn’t expect a league to compare with the best in Europe any time soon, but well-planned growth is pointing towards a product that will only get better in time.



Perhaps the biggest achievement of Beckham’s time in American will be seen if the MLS continues to grow without him.

In a land far, far away: Robert Earnshaw and Giles Barnes are both plying their trade in MLS





