Could Wayne Rooney be heading to the US? Five footballers who moved stateside

Joe Giddens

Rooney's not the only one who's been tempted by America's Major League Soccer (MLS). Former Liverpool star and the new Rangers boss, Steven Gerrard, started playing for LA Galaxy in 2015 but retired near the end of 2016.

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But you might not have heard of some of the other players who've done well in the USA. Bradley Wright-Phillips last played in England for League One team Charlton, but the former Manchester City and Southampton forward has scored more than 100 goals since joining New York Red Bulls in 2013. What's more, he's the top scorer in the MLS over the past five seasons and has won the league's Golden Boot twice.

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Meet Dom Dwyer (right). He was a former Norwich City academy player but got very serious injuries which could have been the end of his career. He didn't let that stop him though. While he was trying to rebuild his career at the non-league level Dwyer was offered a sports scholarship at a college in Texas, USA. Since then his career has been on the up. He's even become a US citizen and in this pic is playing for the US national team.

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Liam Ridgewell is currently a defender at Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers. But he began his senior career in England with teams like Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion. When the 2013-14 season was over at West Brom he joined Portland Timbers, and helped them to victory in MLS Cup 2015.

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Playing alongside Liam is Jack Barmby, son of former England player Nick Barmby. Jack started at Manchester United before being snapped up by Leicester City in 2014. But he struggled there so headed to American side Portland Timbers in 2016 to fulfil his football dreams.

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