There was a point on deadline day, last Thursday, when it seemed that there was an exodus of Major League Soccer’s brightest and best. The league had already lost Tyler Adams, Zack Steffen, and Alphonso Davies when news broke that Miguel Almiron would become Newcastle United’s most expensive signing ever, followed by news of Paris Saint-Germain’s surprise interest in Luciano Acosta and Sebastian Giovinco’s departure from Toronto FC.

Of course, as we now know, Acosta’s move to the French champions ultimately collapsed over the structuring of the transfer, but all this transfer activity had already confirmed January 2019 as one of the most significant landmarks in MLS’s development as a truly major league.

Not so long ago, MLS was derided as little more than a destination for aging stars to pick up one final paycheck before retirement. However, great progress has been made in recent years in the scouting and capture of promising young players with sell-on value. Across the league, there has been an effort to pitch MLS as a stepping stone.

MLS isn’t quite at the level of Europe’s top leagues, so it must find other ways to appeal to prospective signings. The precedent set by Almiron in particular will surely see others trace his steps in the hope of one day earning a mega-money move to the Premier League. Almiron, along with Adams, Steffen, Acosta, and others, prove that the big European clubs are finally watching what is happening across the Atlantic.

It has taken a long time for MLS to reach this point. From a fan’s perspective, the loss of top talent is disappointing. Toronto FC supporters, for instance, will miss watching Giovinco on a weekly basis. Atlanta United already have Pity Martinez to fill the void left by Almiron, but even still, the Paraguayan was an icon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In time, though, this period might well be looked back upon as the moment MLS truly found its identity.

Graham Ruthven is a soccer writer based in the U.K. He has written for the New York Times, Guardian, Eurosport, Bleacher Report, and others.