MLS year-end awards: Lionel Messi nominated for MVP and Rookie of the Year

Lionel Messi has been shortlisted for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Rookie of the Year in 2023 MLS Year-end prices.

The 36-year-old striker has appeared 11 times for Inter Miami following his move from Paris Saint-Germain in July, but only four of those appearances have come in MLS. Ten of Messi’s 11 goals since moving to Miami have come in the League Cup.

Messi’s Miami teammate Sergio Busquets is also shortlisted for both awards despite joining mid-season.

The criteria for the Newcomer award is a player with “previous professional experience and has made his MLS debut in 2023”.

Current MVP Hany Mukhtar has been nominated again after scoring 15 goals and eight assists Nashville in 31 MLS appearances. The Nashville attacking midfielder is among the top contenders for this award together Luciano Acostawho has scored 16 goals and 10 assists in 31 appearances as Cincinnati led the Eastern Conference.

Saint Louis concierge Roman Burki is also shortlisted after his team won the Western Conference. Burki is vying to become just the second goalkeeper to be named MLS MVP in the history of the award — and the first since Kansas City’s Tony Meola in 2000.

GO DEEPER

What to watch on MLS Decision Day: Every game, ranked by importance

Houston DynamoBox-to-box midfielder. Hector Herrera is also among the leading rushers to be named MVP, along Thiago Almadaafter 11 goals and 14 assists for Atlanta.

The midfielder of St Edward Lowen and Atlanta ahead Giorgos Giakoumakis are expected to be among the main candidates for the Newcomer award.

The awards are voted on by players, coaches and members of the MLS media, and voting ends on October 23.

GO DEEPER

Chicago Fire make the most of record crowd for Messi no-show

Does Messi have a chance to win any award?

Analysis by American football writer Jeff Rueter

Forget the League Cup, which is not included in MLS regular season pricing, and of Messi the case seems thin. He has played 247 minutes, scoring once and adding two assists. In no other world does a player with that score make the MVP shortlist, so his candidacy is a farce. Right?

Well, not exactly. First, MLS teams are required to shortlist one or two of their players for these league awards. All that has happened with this update is that Miami has essentially named him and Sergio Busquets the team’s two MVPs for the 2023 season.

Second, MLS bucks convention by awarding a hyper-American “most valuable player” instead of the usual “player of the year” that most leagues offer. It’s a matter of semantics, but can we really say other players are more valuable to their teams than Messi is it in miami? That goal came off the bench in a vital 2-0 away win New York Red Bulls. Those assists made the difference in a stunning 3-1 in the Los Angeles FC. Even more evident has been the team’s inability without him, both before he signed and since suffering an unspecified injury that has kept him out since the September international window.

He won’t be on my five-man shortlist for the award – if you’re wondering, they are (alphabetically) Luciano Acosta, Thiago Almada, Roman Bürki, Hector Herrera and Hany Mukhtar.

But if you take Acosta away from Cincinnati and replace him with a league-average infielder, I think Cincy is still a top-3 team in the East and challenging for the Supporters’ Shield. Replace Bürki in goal with the league’s 10th-best goaltender and St. Louis is probably still winning the West this season.

Without Messi, Miami is once again one of the worst teams in the league. With it, they were on track to not only crack the playoffs, but possibly finish in the top-7 in the East to get automatic playoff qualification. That sounds pretty valuable to me

Landon Donovan MLS MVP Nominees

MLS Rookie of the Year Candidates

(Photo: Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)