Nashville SC midfielder Honey Mukhtar was named MLS MVP, the league announced Tuesday.
- Mukhtar also won the MLS Golden Boot and led the league for the second year in a row with 34 goal contributions (23 goals, 11 assists).
- He scored or assisted 65.4% of Nashville’s goals.
- The MVP race was close. Mukhtar won his 48.03% of the total votes, and Philadelphia’s Andre Blake was his second with 16.8%.
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Mukhtar has scored 21 goals and seven assists in the final 22 games of the season. This included a total of 10 goals and assists as Nashville secured a playoff spot in his four-game streak from August 21 to September 3.
Nashville finished the regular season fifth in the Western Conference, making the playoffs before losing in the first round to the LA Galaxy.
Mukhtar is the first German-born player to win MLS MVP and the first in Nashville club history. The expansion side is his fourth player to win the award in his first three seasons.
Mukhtar is only the fourth player in the past decade to win both the Golden Boot and MVP awards in the same season.
Can Mukhtar maintain this success?
Since 2010, only four players (Robbie Keane, Sebastian Giovinco, David Villa and Joseph Martinez) have been named to the MLS Best XI the year after winning MVP, so history is not on his side. Carles Gil, Joao Paulo, Daniel Saroj and Valentin Castellanos), only Muktar returned to the same state this season. That said, his consistency from the start of 2021 suggests the defense is already cuing his influence, and he’s still improving year after year.
He’ll only turn 28 in March, so he’s unlikely to underperform. It’s also unlikely, but not impossible, that Bundesliga teams will call on him in January if they need a boost in the final third. He should be able to be a reliable source of 15 goals and 7 assists. how to support router
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(Photo: Scott Wachter/USA Today)
