Bolton signing Holden: MLS stronger than people think

Bolton Wanderers signing Stuart Holden says he's left Houston Dynamo and MLS when the league is at it's strongest.

The Dynamo franchise is only a decade old, and has only existed in its current guise since 2006, thanks in part to club owner and boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya. But Holden is fiercely protective of the MLS, and insists the quality of football in a land that has historically struggled to embrace the sport at professional level — at least in the men’s form — is improving.

“People under-estimate the league,” he told the Bolton News. “The standard is getting better, the fans are getting better.

“The whole thing is really getting going and I honestly think that one day it will be right up there with some of the best leagues in the world.

“The Premier League is widely considered to be the ultimate, and that ferocity and intensity that you see every day in training and then on a Saturday is exactly what I wanted to be a part of.

“But in the States, it’s the most played sport at youth level. The trick is to keep the kids interested when they have gone through the system.

“It helps by having academies, and through people like Beckham, having more of a buzz right throughout the sport.

“There will be two more teams in the MLS next year and I can only see that growing and growing in the future.”