MLS new club LAFC hope to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney
LAFC, the Los Angeles club which is set to be established in 2018, are already showing interests in signing two of Europe’s best, according to The Mirror.
The club hopes to have Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney play in the same team like how they had done under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
The establishment of LAFC was announced in October 2014, and the club is going to replace the currently non-existent team Chivas USA. They are being funded by 22 wealthy individuals, which include people like the Cardiff city owner Vincent Tan, and LA Lakers legend Magic Johnson.
The club is hoping to make Cristiano Ronaldo their first designated player. Generally most European stars cannot be accommodated in most MLS team’s salary cap, but by using the designated player rule clubs are able to lure stars like David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo, and Kaka to the league.
Both Ronaldo and Rooney have been to Los Angeles on several occasions. Ronaldo has mostly been to the Southern Californian city for commercial purposes, as there are several possibilities for brand expansion. Rooney, on the other hand, spends most of his holidays in the city.
Although the club has not made any formal approach to the England captain, sources say that the club believes he is an achievable target.
"There seems to be an obsession in LA with landing Ronaldo," a source told Mirror Football.
"The league will be even stronger by then. He'd be a franchise player for them and truly announce their arrival, and they think they can sell him the 'American Dream'."
In case the transfer does happen, it won’t be the first time that Ronaldo and Rooney are seen playing on the same team. They were an integral part of United’s fearsome attack since 2004.
The duo were at their best in the 2008 season, during which time Manchester United were considered to be the best team in Europe. Along with the strike force of Carlos Tevez, the United team went on to win the UEFA Champions League that season.
In the same season, Ronaldo went on to equal Premier League legend Alan Shearer's record of 31 goals in a season being only the second player to do so at the time. It would definitely be interesting to see how the duo fairs if they were to be teamed up again