It appears two English legends are on their way out of MLS.

Steven Gerrard sent out an Instagram post this week which seemed to suggest his time with L.A. Galaxy was coming to a close, and on Monday NYCFC confirmed that Frank Lampard would be leaving the club at the conclusion of his contract this offseason.

Both men made an impact on their respective clubs, but it’s hard to argue their time with either team will be the stuff of MLS legend.

Let’s start with Lampard, who has had the far more erratic time in MLS of the two. The midfielder was one of the first huge signings of the franchise NYC club, a man who, along with David Villa and Andrea Pirlo, was supposed to launch the club into relevancy and immediately make it a competitor with New York Red Bulls.

That happened … sort of. Eventually. After some delay, Lampard would find his way to the team, where his trademark runs into the box and nose for goals made him one of the most dangerous box-to-box midfielders in MLS.

But to get there, man. Lampard was first announced to have been signed by NYCFC and then loaned to Manchester City for the first part of the 2014-15 season. Come the start of the MLS season, however, Manuel Pelligrini decided he needed Lampard still at Manchester City … and the club then revealed that Lampard had never actually signed with NYCFC. He had signed a contract with parent company City Football Group, and had no obligation to appear in MLS at all.

Come the end of the Premier League season, Lampard finally arrived … banged up and fatigued after a season in England. He played a bit, got hurt, sat out most of the next preseason (which he showed up injured to) and reportedly started a television punditry career, all of which led me to write that he was the worst signing in MLS history. I stand by that column when I wrote it. At the time, he was.

Soon after, Lampard got healthy again and finally was fit for an MLS season, where he was an important goalscoring force for the team this year and redeemed what might have been a total embarrassment. He also finally seemed to buy into the club, taking an interest in the development of young star Jack Harrison and seeming to embrace the fans and city. He leaves now mostly in the good graces of NYCFC fans, but man, it took a while to get there.

Gerrard’s time in Los Angeles never had the highs or the lows of Lampard’s time in New York City. He just sort of was. Gerrard struggled to adapt at first to the conditions here in the States, admitting that he’d never experienced anything like trying to go 90 minutes at altitude for a summer game in Salt Lake City. (To be fair, no human alive should be asked to run 90 minutes in the dead of summer in Salt Lake City.)

Playing with a talented team in Los Angeles that never quite fit together perfectly, Gerrard was a leader and fine player who never really put his stamp on the league. He finished with 3 goals and 9 assists in 18 appearances this season, decent numbers but not exactly what one would expect from a player of his caliber.

If anything, many interviews conducted with Gerrard show almost his surprise at the league here. It wasn’t quite as easy as he thought it was going to be. The quality has gotten higher. The travel and conditions are torture.

“If people think they can come here just to have a holiday and retire,” he said in November 2015, “they are going to have a mistake because they won’t perform well and they won’t do their team justice because I have had to come here and work hard and get fit, make sure that I keep performing to play well.”

That’s perhaps what I will remember most of Gerrard and Lampard’s time in MLS — two excellent players who didn’t quite understand what they were getting themselves into. That this league may not have the quality of skill in the Premier League, but its unique difficulties — travel, climate, new clubs — make it a difficult place to really thrive.

They showed us that two excellent players can no longer waltz into the league and dominate. They had to work, get fit, and even then, neither will leave with an MLS Cup. MLS is no longer something you can just show up for.