Football
Tom Marshall, Mexico correspondent 4y

MLS will be among best leagues in five years - Jonathan dos Santos

LA Galaxy midfielder Jonathan dos Santos thinks MLS will be one of best leagues in the world in coming years and believes even those who criticized his decision to join the Galaxy in 2017 know it was wrong to do so now.

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"Since I got here to MLS, it's been growing a lot in every sense and now they are signing some young players, experienced ones and well-known coaches, and there will be more competition," Dos Santos said in a Spanish-language interview with GQ. "I think that with this speed of evolution we'll have, in four or five years, one of the best leagues."

Dos Santos was playing for Villarreal in Spain before signing for the Galaxy and he was heavily criticized in Mexico for moving from arguably the best league in the world to MLS.

"Journalists that say that [players] are wasting our time [coming to MLS] do it just to mess with you," stated Dos Santos. "They see the transformation [of MLS] with their own eyes. The teams treat you really well, the infrastructure is spectacular and it is a cosmopolitan league with Latino players, [players] from Europe and other parts of the world, which makes it balanced, athletic and [good] quality."

The Mexico international admitted he isn't likely to continue in soccer after he hangs up his cleats and instead would like to explore a career in fashion.

"I don't like to think only about football," he said. "It's the first thing I think about, but there are other things that interest me, like fashion. I'm thinking about dedicating myself to something to do with it and [David] Beckham and Hidetoshi Nakata inspire me."

Dos Santos also said he would like to feature for Mexico in the Tokyo Olympics if the opportunity came up.

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