Rooney: MLS owners use trade system to take advantage of players

Wayne Rooney is not a fan of the trading system in Major League Soccer, which he believes is unsuitable for the North American game and its players.

An incident early in Rooney's D.C. United career didn't sit well with the English legend, who was blindsided by the different style that MLS operates compared to what he was used to in the Premier League.

"I didn't realize it obviously before I went, but when I got there (MLS), I seen it," Rooney said on Quincy Amarikwa's "Ask A Soccer Pro" podcast. "My first week, we had a player who, when he finished training, he got told he was getting transferred onto somewhere else.

"I was like, 'Wow.' I come in from training and was like, 'What's going on here? Where is he going? Where is he? What's going on?' So, it's difficult. I spoke to Steve (Birnbaum, D.C. teammate) a lot. I was like, 'Can he do that? Is it that easy to do? Is it that easy to actually move someone on?'

"There's no thought behind it in terms of this player might have a family, children ... a life here. All of a sudden, they might get told, 'You know what? Move on.'

"I know it works that way in basketball and in the NFL, but them players they get paid millions and millions of pounds. So, they can afford to actually do that, where MLS players can't. They probably get a small percentage of money which won't even cover the bills, won't even cover what they have to live on. So, it's wrong for that to happen.

"I think MLS needs to really look at that because, from seeing it, a lot of them owners are taking advantage of the league (structure), which is affecting American players."

Rooney also called on MLS to scrap its salary cap, which he believes prevents players and the league from reaching their full potential.

Rooney joined D.C. United in 2018 and went on to score 25 goals in 52 appearances over two seasons before returning to England in January to join Derby County in a player-coach role.