Christian Benteke has been one of the standout players in Major League Soccer this season, winning the Golden Boot award after topping the regular season goalscoring charts with 23, but should the DC United centre-forward also be considered for the league’s top individual honour in 2024?
By James Nalton
Many of the debates around who should win the MLS Most Valuable Player award stem from different ideas of what the award means.
No definition is provided by the league itself, so voters are left to make up their own minds as to what MVP represents, and what kind of individual qualities are being rewarded.
“Most valuable” can suggest many things, from the value a player brings to a franchise in a wider sense to a more specific focus on what they bring on the field.
In terms of on-field performance, is the most valuable player equivalent to the best player in the league, or is it the player who is the most indispensable to their team? These two things are often one and the same, but not always.
Many media members have already announced their voting intentions publicly. Taking these into account, the two front runners appear to be Lionel Messi of Inter Miami and Cucho Hernández of Columbus Crew.
Few would dispute that these are the two best players in the league, and if “MVP” is equal to “best player”, then they are the obvious candidates.
It just so happens that their teams are the best in the league, too. Inter Miami won the Supporters’ Shield in record-breaking fashion, while Columbus Crew play some of the best football MLS has seen, under the tutelage of French head coach Wilfried Nancy.
Both of these teams have been mostly fine when their MVPs have been unavailable, though. Inter Miami have won ten games, drawn two and lost three in Messi’s absence, while the Crew have won four, drawn two and lost one without Cucho.
There is no doubt these teams are better with their star players, but they don’t miss them massively when they are not there, at least in terms of results.
Christian Benteke, on the other hand, is DC United. He’s their game plan, their goalscorer and undoubtedly their most valuable player. As the top goalscorer in MLS in 2024, you could then also argue that he is the league-wide MVP this year.
The Belgian has scored 44% of DC United’s goals in MLS this season, and the next in line for goals scored for Troy Lesesne’s team this season, behind Benteke’s 23, was Gabriel Pirani with just six. No other DC United player scored more than three.
Benteke’s value is also demonstrated by his extraordinary stats for aerial duels and heading.
He topped the league for headed shots (40), headed goals (9), aerial duels contested (436) and aerial duels won (314). 43% of his shots taken were headers.
Those figures for aerial duels are the highest in MLS history, eclipsing his own from 2023 when he contested 367 aerial duels and won 244 – the second highest in MLS history. C.J. Sapong is third in MLS history for aerial duels contested with 268 for Chicago Fire in 2019, while Steve Birnbaum is third for aerial duels won with 177 for DC United in 2019 – both of which demonstrate how far ahead Benteke has been in this area of the game.
It’s perhaps unfair to say DC United are just Benteke, after all, someone needs to provide assists for his goals and the crosses from which he heads those shots on goal.
And in the four games Benteke missed this season, the team scored six goals but failed to pick up a win, drawing three and losing one.
With overall performance in mind, Benteke also wins his fair share of headers when helping out in defence at set pieces – this is not just an attacking weapon.
DC United are also an active pressing team, which is no surprise given this has been a feature of head coach Lesesne’s favoured style of play since his time with New Mexico United, and this is combined with a directness in possession.
Benteke is once again a key part of that direct play, though, able to hold the ball up well, receiving it to feet as well as in the air, and can act as an outlet to retain possession once the ball has been won back.
Despite these other team traits, Benteke is very much the player relied upon, as his goalscoring record shows, especially compared to the lack of goals scored by his teammates.
The 2024 MLS MVP is likely to go to one of Cucho or Messi, most likely the latter given his overall profile and value to the league, but in terms of importance to a team, they don’t get much more valuable than Benteke.
(Cover Image from IMAGO)
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