NEW YORK (AP) — Nashville midfielder Hany Mukhtar has been named Major League Soccer’s Most Valuable Player after leading the league with 23 goals and 11 assists.
The 27-year-old German’s combined goals and assists were the fifth most for a season in league history.
He was especially productive in the final 22 games of the season with 21 goals and seven assists. He had eight goals and four assists in August alone.
Nashville finished fifth in the Eastern Conference standings and lost 1-0 to the LA Galaxy in the first round of the playoffs.
Mukhtar, who joined Nashville in 2020, is the first German-born player to win the league’s Landon Donovan MLS MVP award. No American has been voted MVP since Chicago Fire forward Mike Magee in 2013.
The MVP is voted on by players, club technical staffs and the media. Mukhtar finished with 48.03% of the votes, followed by Austin’s Sebastian Driussi with 16.8%. Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake finished third with 7.87%.
The Philadelphia Union and LAFC play Saturday in the MLS Cup final in Los Angeles.
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