Bob Bradley believes ageing Premier League stars should forget about playing in the USA if they want easy money and stress-free football.
The new Swansea City manager spent almost a decade coaching in Major League Soccer (MLS) before taking charge of the US national team.
In recent seasons, crossing the Atlantic has become a familiar route taken by the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and before them David Beckham.
But Bradley now believes the MLS has become a tougher environment and that players like Wayne Rooney should head to newer more lucrative leagues, such as China, if money is their primary motivation.
“My message to any player at that crossroads would be you cannot go to the MLS at the very end of your career and think you are going to find it easy,” said Bradley, who took charge of his first match in charge of the Swans at Arsenal on Saturday.
“It is a very challenging league – physically challenging, the travel is challenging, and people who go there have to understand what they are getting into.
“Not everyone in the team is going to have your background, but you are going to have to be a good example.
“You have to be a leader. You cannot just be the guy who shows up and is in and out after games. The commitment is much more.
“So, if your goal is just to max out financially, then maybe the finish has to be somewhere else.”
Clubs in the Chinese Super League could easily match and improve Rooney’s current £300,000-a-week deal at Old Trafford which still has 20 months to run.
The deposed England and Manchester United striker is reported to be weighing up his options after slipping down the pecking order for both club and country.
Official figures from the MLS claim Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard only earn around £75,000-a-week, but Bradley insists living the American dream is more than about cash.
“If you understand what you are getting into, then for a player, his family and his children, to go and live and work in the United States is incredible.
“It’s about individual choice, but I would still say if you talk to Hristo Stoichkov or Youri Djorkaeff, then they would say the experience of playing and living in America would rate at the very top.”