Ranking the Top 50 prospects in MLS
Young players in MLS are progressing. The question is merely how fast.
That's the undergirding question we asked ourselves during a recent state-of-the-union undertaking here at TopDrawerSoccer.com And it ultimately guided our thinking in coming up with our assessed top 50 Homegrowns and signed draft picks entering the 2017 season. With the MLS calendar readying to officially flip to 2017 with the opening match of the season on March 3, we dove into the league's talented stable of young players.
Simply put, which ones are the best? And what makes them great? When all is said and done, which one has the potential to be the best pro?
Over the course of the week, we're rolling out 10 top players per day counting down from No. 50 to No. 1 on our list. The rubric is simple. To be considered for our top 50, players need to be born in 1994 or later, been signed to the league via either the Homegrown mechanism or through the draft, and have played 500 or fewer minutes in MLS. The rest - players like Kellyn Acosta, for example - are already established. Young players with a few years under their belts playing abroad don't qualify.
Bottom line, with this list, we're taking stock in the next wave of talent washing up on MLS's shores.
Be sure to check back here throughout the week as we update this page and drill closer to our top young player in MLS. And for your reference, we've included our player pool of 50 on this page. Happy hunting.
Nos. 50-41 | Nos. 40-31 | Nos. 30-21 | Nos. 20-11 | Nos. 10-1
Lalas Abubakar
Danilo Acosta
Tyler Adams
Seyi Adekoya
Hugo Arellano
Arun Basuljevic
Marco Bustos
Reggie Cannon
Andrew Carleton
David Choiniere
Coy Craft
Alex Crognale
Pierre Da Silva
Abu Danladi
Alphonso Davies
Chris Durkin
Jeremy Ebobisse
Derrick Etienne
Marco Farfan
Jesus Ferreira
Kortne Ford
Chris Goslin
Ian Harkes
Jacori Hayes
Zachary Herivaux
Jose Hernandez
Omar Holness
Derrick Jones
Richie Laryea
Jonathan Lewis
Nick Lima
Christian Lucatero
Collin Martin
Djordje Mihailovic
Adam Najem
Ricardo Perez
Paxton Pomykal
Bryan Reynolds
Miles Robinson
Daniel Salloi
Sebastian Saucedo
Shamit Shome
Mason Stajduhar
Zack Steffen
Ben Swanson
Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla
Auston Trusty
Brandon Vazquez
Henry Wingo
Jackson Yueill
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