Christian Benteke. Wayne Rooney took over DC United in the summer, took over the team in last place and after a couple of games realized that without reinforcements the situation could not be saved. Luring someone onto a sinking boat is difficult, but Rooney rose to the challenge and was able to convince Benteke to trade London for Washington. At Crystal Palace, Christian’s results were on the decline and that was one of the reasons for the move. But he couldn’t pull the team off. He even got on the field only half the time he could, and in his 7 games he could only score one goal. I don’t think it was just Benteke’s fault, after all the whole team played poorly there. That’s why 5th place.
Hector Herrera moved to Houston from Madrid. Like Benteke, he joined one of the worst teams in the league. But the Dynamo coach decided that Herrera would be Houston’s savior and started making accents and betting that everything would be built on Hector. But that’s a mistake that has been proven. First, the player needs to get used to the team and the league. Secondly, something happened that is not worth betting on one person – an injury. As a result, “Dynamo” finished in last place in the conference.
Douglas Costa was bounced around the teams and championships. As a Juve player since 2018, he went on several rentals. There was a loan to LA Galaxy in the winter and a full-fledged transfer in the summer. But the transition, once a player who was considered a replacement for Robben, to the MLS went unnoticed. And the thing is that Costa has been slacking off on soccer. During the season he entered the field 27 times, spent about 50% of the possible minutes. But he could only score 4 and give one goal. In my opinion – a bad result for a player of that level. The question of age should not be a question, Douglas is 32 years old, the level of MLS is quite possible still to feast at that age.
The news that Federico Bernardeschi decided to leave Juventus, and even for Toronto, was surprising and shocking. Whether he succeeded is an open question. On the one hand he had 13 games, scored 8 goals and gave 2 assists, but on the other hand, the team failed on all fronts. The coach decided to make Insigne and Bernardeschi the wings of the attack and at first it was useful, both scored. But it didn’t work out well. Even when they were scoring, the team was losing. Why is Federico on this list? Because he’s at a peak age right now, in a league where he’s a head above his competition. This is exactly where he should have been able to show all his qualities, but he couldn’t. Or he didn’t want to. As a result, it turned out that he failed the first half of the season in MLS, but he failed exactly on ambition and not really on results.
Gareth Bale. How pompous that transfer was. In the best showbiz tradition. “L.A. even managed to sell the most jerseys in a couple of months. But from an athletic standpoint, the transfer was terrible. For one thing, he got on the field 12 times out of 16 possible games, but (!) he only played 24 percent of the possible time. This is awfully low for the main star of the team. Secondly, at one point it seemed that this transfer damaged the atmosphere within the team. Bale was invited, but the team is still pulled by Carlos Vela. Yes, and the rest of the players he is inferior. That’s why Gareth Bale’s transfer is the worst in MLS for the 2022 season.
