As you read this, Tim Ream is probably somewhere in a phone shop in the Lancashire area, choosing between international plans. Trying to reach him for comment in Manchester at the height of his drawn out $3m transfer to Bolton Wanderers, a New York Times journalist found himself quickly ushered off the phone as Ream counted the costs of international roaming. You could hardly blame him for being cost-conscious: the newly married New York Red Bulls player had postponed his honeymoon to stay in North West England, trying to push through the work permit that would take his wages of around $65K per year to the rather more smartphone-friendly £20K per week. Even allowing for Bolton's rather shaky premiership prospects and the pressure on Ream to fill the big shoes left by the departing Gary Cahill, you suspect that the young central defender will emerge from his Bolton adventures happy with at least one of the net results.

In reaching this stage, Ream has been one of the more significant success stories to emerge from the MLS draft system. Just two short years ago he was one of those deeper draft picks for whom there are few YouTube highlight reels, and little pre-draft buzz. So there was little expectation when Ream was drafted 18th overall for New York Red Bulls, behind their first choice picks of Tony Tchani and Austin da Luz (both of whom have since left the club), but he had at least impressed with his composure at the Combine games held for draft prospects, prompting New York to take a chance on him.

Surprisingly, the unfancied Ream ended up playing every minute of the Red Bulls' campaign in his rookie season – earning himself a call-up to the full US squad alongside his team-mate, the rather more media-friendly phenom Juan Agudelo. Ream was solid if unspectacular in his USA debut vs South Africa, though he has been somewhat exposed in his limited international experiences since – occasionally seeming uncertain on his positioning in the box and perhaps being a little temperamentally disinclined to be the dominant organizational leader a ball-playing center back needs to be. His domestic form also suffered from a somewhat redundant allocation of roles when he was partnered with Rafa Marquez at the heart of the Red Bull's defense last season – only reviving when Stephen Keel (a solid tackler for whom the adjectives tend to range from 'honest' to 'agricultural') came into the side and played the unglamorous ball-winning foil to Ream's more cultured ball-playing instincts.

Ream's shortcomings are of the type that should be overcome with time and experience though, and right now few in New York begrudge Ream his chance in the Premiership – for the life-changing wage difference of course, but as an ambassador and product of an increasingly confident league and its growing development system too.

The best of Ream:

And the worst (0.55 mark):

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It's fair to say that for those young hopefuls who went through the process of this year's MLS SuperDraft in Kansas a couple of weeks ago, Ream's example is a tantalizing hint of what is possible for them with application, a coach who believes in them and of course, a little luck. And if they wanted a more definitive example of how far they could go, they had only to look at 2004 New England draftee Clint Dempsey, who is in the form of his life at Fulham and who, as if to hammer home the point to those following him, book-ended this year's draft event with successive eye-catching hat tricks against Charlton and Newcastle.

So with American exports apparently thriving (a phrase you won't read in many other sections of the Guardian) is this a significant moment in the developing relationship between the leagues? Of course MLS is still very, very young as a league in comparison to those in other countries and what can seem like bellwether moments in its development have to be seen in the context of a small historical sample size and a steep learning curve for modern US soccer. That said, something about the actual and even rumored trade and loan activity of this particular transfer window has seemed significant as a moment of consolidation here in the US – even if it takes place against the increasingly dated prejudices that still tend to color the European perception of the league.

Just last weekend, one of the Guardian's own writers referred to MLS as an "elephant's graveyard" in his praise of LA Galaxy's Robbie Keane and his loan performance for Aston Villa - questioning what he was doing in "Tinseltown" at this stage of a clearly still-productive career. But that's arguably to miss the point that the European players arriving on designated player contracts in MLS are now tending to be in their early 30s - and in the case of players coming from Central and South America, younger. The type of superannuated big names that Gloria Swanson-ed their way through the formative days of the league are more and more a thing of the past as the league develops.

That said, nobody is making wild claims for the current standard of play in MLS vs. the EPL, but the gap is closing a little and at least for the median teams in England, will continue to close. For top tier teams mindful of budget and value-for-money such as Everton and Bolton, each experience of signing or loaning an American player seems to have consolidated their desire to investigate further, with promising results. At Bolton for example, the performances of MLS import Stuart Holden probably did no harm to the prospects of Ream, or the next possible signing, Philadelphia Union's counter-attacking predator Sébastien LeToux. A level down and Leeds signing of Robbie Rogers from Columbus Crew represents the latest in a modest line of American imports by the Championship club.

The higher echelons of US soccer management too are hopeful that the future might hold more such patterns of trade, rather than scattershot talent spotting. There are around 100 senior US players dotted around Europe on permanent contracts right now – and US men's national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann has spoken openly of younger players needing to take every opportunity to at least train in Europe in the long American off-season, if they want to be considered seriously for international selection under him. The fact that they may find themselves on de facto extended trials at their host clubs is a politely unspoken assumption in all this (Ream trained with WBA before catching the eye in a similar stint at Bolton this winter) – an assumption founded in the basic truth that there are few ambitious players operating within the current salary-capped environment of MLS for whom playing in the shop window is not a concern.

This is key. Since the high controversy of David Beckham's loan spells at AC Milan ushered the name (and irate heckling) of the fans in the LA Riot Squad into the bemused worldwide football fan's consciousness, subsequent temporary high profile loans have been greeted in a more sanguine manner by MLS fans – including those in LA. Donovan's second spell at Everton and Keane's stay at Villa have created barely a murmur – and even Henry's emotional return to Arsenal has not unduly disturbed New York supporters, who one might expect to feel more threatened by his return to his first love. But these are high-earning players whose salaries are significant burdens; they so far haven't turned into permanent departures from MLS and at that end of the scale the fans tend to accept the pragmatic realities and even modest benefits of the situation.

The issue with young domestic players is different. As time goes on and MLS presumably gets stronger and its individual club academies and reserve teams begin to assume more of the weight currently borne by the draft, the pressure will grow for a more self-sustaining MLS to at least significantly expand the salary cap or domestic incentives to retain young talent. In the interim, the Reams, and presumably soon the Brek Sheas and Agudelos of this world (said to be interesting their 2012 winter training teams Arsenal and Liverpool/Stuttgart respectively), can only be enjoyed by MLS fans in the bittersweet knowledge that they're likely just passing through. But the fact that these players continue to pass through and seemingly with increasingly significant success abroad, is a consolation of sorts to the average MLS supporter - suggesting that the league is heading in the right direction. We may seem a lifetime away from an MLS team mate offering a prized young British player his phone so he can call home during his transfer to America, but we may not be as far from the time when the more highly prized young American players get to think twice about whether they need to leave themselves.