Photo courtesy of Major League Soccer
What had been widely expected for Carlos Vela finally came to fruition on Monday.
Carlos Vela added another honor to his banner 2019 season, and it was the big one, as Vela on Monday was named the 2019 Landon Donovan MLS MVP award.
It truly was a spectacular season for Vela. LAFC’s first designated player signing has lived up to the hype since coming over from Real Sociedad prior to the franchise’s inaugural season last year, but in 2019, Vela was simply unstoppable. Vela shattered the MLS single-season goal scoring record with 34 goals, reached 20 goals in just 20 games, the fastest rate of any player, and had a 1.10 goals-per-game average, which ranks first all-time in MLS history among players with at least 15 goals in a season. Vela’s performance this season was key in LAFC capturing the Supporters Shield this season.
Turns out it was a unanimous selection, as the final voting put Vela miles ahead of the LA Galaxy’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Vela finished with 69 percent of the vote, while Ibrahimovic received 14 percent of the vote. Last year’s MVP, Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez, who had the single-season goal record a year earlier, finished third in the voting.
