Why Lionel Messi is the 2024 MLS MVP | Twellman’s Takes

What's up everybody? Taylor Twelman from Major League Soccer and Apple TV. 2024 was a magical regular season. For the first time in league history, four players scored 20 goals. For the first time in league history, two of those were on the same team. Luis Suarez, arguably the best forward of his generation, 37 years old. And Lionel Messi, the greatest of all time, 37 years old. And it opens up the conversation. How do you define value? See, I grew up in an era where Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls. He was easily the most valuable player to the NBA, to the Chicago Bulls. And yet he didn't win MVP every year. I still don't know why. I still don't know that answer. And yet I want to take you down the trip of where I am and how I came about voting Lionel Messi as my MLS MVP. See, here's what's interesting to me. September 14th, Lionel Messi returns from the awful ankle injury he suffered in Copa America for Argentina. He plays against the Philadelphia Union and naturally scores two goals and has one assist. And I'm asked on Apple TV, MLS season pass, should Lionel Messi win MLS MVP? And my natural inclination was, well, no, he didn't play that many games. And then a couple of weeks later, he scores two goals against Columbus Crew and he wins the Supporter Shield. And then against the New England Revolution, to set the record for the most points, he scores a hat trick and has an assist in what, 18, 19 minutes? And then I sit there every single time I'm watching Inter-Miami arguing with myself, which by the way is one of the best arguments in the world, because there's part of me that's a complete idiot. And then there's part of me that thinks he knows everything. And so when they get together, you're like, what is this? But follow me. You sit there and say, he missed 15 games, yet he had 36 goal contributions. If he had 36 goal contributions and only missed 10 games, I wouldn't even thought about it. Naturally you'd be like, yeah, that's my MVP. And then there's the part of me, the idiot part, that says, well, wait a minute, Inter-Miami won eight of those nine games when Tata Martino and everybody said in the preseason, how do we deal with Messi gone when he's with Argentina and Copa America and all that? And then I sit there and say, well, hold on a minute, you ding dong. Messi and Miami are the way they are because Messi is on the team. They're not signing Diego Gomez and Federico Redondo and in any of these players, if Messi's not on the team. So the deepest team in MLS history is only deep because Lionel Messi brought the value to the team. He had 20 goals, 16 assists in 19 games. That's absurd. And so while the idiot part of me tried to neglect and argue with everything about, well, he only played 19 games. The other half of my brain says, you're an idiot, dude. You're an absolute idiot. Who is the most valuable player in major league soccer? Who is the most valuable player in Messi league soccer? See what I did there? Make no mistake about it. 2024, Inter-Miami, best team in regular season history. Will they be the best team in MLS history if they win MLS Cup? It will 100% be yes. And that is because number 10 in pink always delivers. His first MLS Cup playoff run starts this Friday on Apple TV on MLS season pass, and it is free at eight o'clock Eastern. And I will see you there.