Miguel Almiron had to leave. The Paraguayan was probably the best player in Major League Soccer for the two years he called the USA home, but his £21 million move to the Premier League last January represented a real watershed moment for the growth and identity of the division as a whole.
Indeed, the sale of Almiron to Newcastle United established MLS as a stepping stone to Europe. Clubs on the other side of the Atlantic are increasingly looking to Canada and the United States for soccer talent and the big money transfer (a record transfer for Newcastle) was the starkest manifestation yet of this.