MLS MVP - Who deserves the award?

1) Lionel Messi

We’ll start with the obvious, the greatest player that has ever graced a football pitch. The 37-year-old Argentine has helped lead his club Inter Miami to a first ever league title, and breaking the points tally in doing so. He also has overtaken fellow south american Leonardo Campana as the club’s all time top goalscorer, with 33 to his name for the Herons, with 20 of these goals coming in this seasons MLS campaign.

He’s done this by accumulating just 13.43 xG (expected goals). If you don’t understand xG, it basically means he scored nearly 7 more goals than he should have, highlighting his excellent finishing, even at his age. Messi also provided for his team names 10 times, giving him a total of 30 goals+assists, the joint highest number in the league. 

However, there is one small problem. But with this problem means tbis article exists, because otherwise it wouldn’t be a debate. Avaliability. Messi had only played 19 of the 34 games avaliable in the MLS season, part of which he couldn’t control, as the Copa América tournament was running throughout the season - where he also got injured in the final, making him miss a good chunk of the middle part of the season. So, he might not the clear favourite like he usually would.