Major League Soccer released its five finalists for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP Award, headlined by a pair of former Manchester United teammates.
LA Galaxy forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic and DC United attacker Wayne Rooney are up for the award, along with LAFC’s Carlos Vela and Atlanta United teammates Miguel Almiron and Josef Martinez.
Ibrahimovic might be considered the favorite had LA not failed to make the playoffs, while Atlanta may be hampered by having two players up for the honor. Vela has been outstanding on expansion LAFC despite inconsistency in his supporting cast.
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Rooney would win MVP despite playing in less than 54 percent of the season’s minutes.
Ibrahimovic, Vela, and Almiron are ranked 1-2-3 in performance scored by advanced stats site WhoScored. Rooney is 10th, and Martinez 11th.
Coincidentally, that’s close to how the voting should finish (although Rooney has been a revelation, Martinez broke the goal record so let’s at least flip those two).
This is one of those times that the MLS Most Valuable Player being named after Landon Donovan may not be ideal.
Especially if Zlatan wins the award. Imagine the speech: “Today, this is award is now the Zlatan Ibrahimovic Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player Award, sponsored by Zlatan.