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Rooney says U.S. players in MLS are 'underpaid'

D.C. United striker Wayne Rooney has said that American players in Major League Soccer do not get paid enough.

The former Manchester United striker told ESPN FC in an exclusive interview that his U.S. teammates do not earn enough money, calling for team owners and league officials to increase wages in the next collective bargaining agreement.

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"I believe that the American players, in particular, get underpaid," Rooney said. "I feel they deserve to get more money to stay in line with football in the rest of the world and in terms of the American sports.

"I'm not saying it to benefit me, I obviously won't be in the league next season. I think it's only fair to those players who are putting in the same work as all have to earn the right to earn more money for doing it."

The existing collective bargaining agreement is due to expire on Jan. 31, 2020, with players previously threatening to strike if changes are not made to salaries, travel accommodations and more freedom of movement between MLS clubs when contracts expire. And Rooney had some thoughts on what the league could do to improve conditions for the players.

"I think the flight issues in terms of you only have so many charter flights," Rooney said. "I think if the teams want to they should be able to charter as many flights as they want.

"The [one] time I really felt or had an issue with travel was the Vancouver game. I tweeted about it after the game that to get two flights there and it takes 12 hours when you can get there in four or five hours and we had a game on the Wednesday, I think the league can do better to make that much easier for the players and that benefits the league."

Rooney is one of the three Designated Players at D.C. United, meaning that he is allowed to earn above $10,192-a-week, the cap for non-Designated Players on MLS rosters.

Rooney has scored 23 goals in 45 league appearances, but will leave for second-tier English side Derby County at the end of the MLS season and explained some of the struggles D.C. has had this year as opposed to last year.

He said: "I think the difference is last season we played with a lot of confidence in terms of we had nothing to lose and we had a lot of home games and we played with a lot of confidence in terms of building and getting enough points to make the playoffs.

"I think this year the team has been a bit more inconsistent, but we've been for a long time all season in the playoff spots, so I think that's the league and it is quite inconsistent and the teams that get a few wins on the bounce have that advantage."

D.C. looks set to make the playoffs, sitting in fifth place on 45 points in the Eastern Conference with three games to play. The top seven teams in each conference make the playoffs.

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