Miguel Almiron leads Major League Soccer in jersey sales for 2017

Major League Soccer has revealed their best-selling jerseys for the 2017 season and before we jump into who had the top-selling jersey, it has to be said that MLS did a pretty cool job of presenting the results. Instead of just providing a list and leaving it at that, MLS decided to make a visual splash by focusing on the jerseys and the vibrant colors that, in my opinion, sets MLS apart from the rest of the leagues in the world.

With that being said, the top seller may come as a small bit of a shock to casual observers of MLS and could also be an indicator of where the league could be headed as far as its future stars are concerned. While we did see a couple of former European stars in the top 5 (Bastian Schweinsteiger and David Villa) and one American star also made an appearance (Jordan Morris, with Clint Dempsey showing up just outside of the Top 5), the presence of two newcomers who are based in South American countries made a huge splash on this list.

It turned out that Atlanta United’s Miguel Almiron had the top-selling jersey in MLS this season, and fellow ATL UTD player Josef Martinez came in at number three. As far as Atlanta United is concerned, it’s another sign of the incredibly successful first season that they had and also a sign that this team is very healthy when it comes to fan support.

I’ll also contend that this will probably be the way of the future when it comes to the stars of the league. Teams will certainly continue to bring over European stars who are more-than-likely past their prime and they’ll help bump the league in terms of ticket sales and eyeballs, but we could also see more and more teams “create” their own stars by bringing over talented young players from South America and Europe who may have flown under the radar. Almiron and Martinez are proof that relative unknowns can come over and become sensations with their club.

Plus, it helps that Atlanta United came up with a solid look, and none of the jerseys on this list are ugly by any means. It’s an attractive set of soccer shirts and that always helps when it comes to sales.

What do you all make of this, though? Are we going to see the old European stars and/or USMNT stars return to the top of this list when this is released next year, or will we continue to see players from other countries who made their name in this league stay at the top?