This article is a joint venture between myself and Richard, aka @Frip, aka @SorareUSA, who is one of the most knowledgeable MLS resources with a deep history playing in the MLS official fantasy game and plenty of success in his years on Sorare. I reached out to him before the cards dropped to get his take on which players who didn’t have cards would be the best to target when 2022 finally minted. These are the names he picked; write-ups from the two of us and data visualizations via SorareData.
This is an especially exciting release - phrasing! - for MLS. Thanks to a new partnership with the league (and not just the Players Association) the cards feature full body images including jerseys with team logos on them for the first time. No more cropped and photoshopped MLSPA headshots! Of course there going to be players who will finally get a card on Sorare for the first time and that’s our focus today.
SorareUSA has been been keeping track of future auction targets over the off-season and is sharing his top 10 of here. Presented in no particular rank/value order, and remembering that the players on this list fall into two categories:
- Players who did well in 2021 and now get a Sorare card
- Players who had strong 2022 starts and surprised some of us
Let’s start with the players that already have last year’s MLS season under their belts.
Ryan Gauld (age 26), M - Vancouver Whitecaps
The Scottish Messi landed with a bang in MLS last season. He had four goals, five assists but has just one, single decisive this year. No points for guessing when.
Gauld posted last year’s nine g+a in only 1,308’ and had a solid 0.32 non-penalty xG+xA/90’. This year that number has fallen off a cliff, but that should be chalked up to small sample size and not MLS managers suddenly gearing their tactics towards stopping the Whitecaps midfielder at all costs.
Cristian Arango (age 27), F - LAFC
Carlos Vela - you’ve heard of him - is still the key man for LAFC, but Arango has been their best #9 in recent memory. Look you can count, but that’s six scores of 80+ and those are the money scores.
His xG/xA last year were outrageous. He made 15 starts and had 12.0 xG, plus another 3.5 xA. Through eight matches this year, he has only four starts and that may help keep the Colombian’s early prices lower than they otherwise would be. Dude was expensive - like a top 10 transfer fee all time for the club - and he’s going to get opportunities.
Nathan (age 26), D - San Jose Earthquakes
I went searching for the “American Kikuchi” some time during the summer last year and came upon Nathan.
He is an absolutely AA monster. Over the last year he’s averaging 23.5 points in All Around Score. That’s good. Just an FYI, he is suspended for the next match. It may be that the DNP helps you snag a minor discount here, but the scores are so good it’s hard to believe the price falls far. AA scores like this are much more stable and sustainable than wingbacks who depend on Decisive actions and are penalized for their many lost possessions.
Mamadou Fall (age 19), D - LAFC
Another LAFC player here, this time on the defensive side. Fall got his opportunity through a series of injuries on their backline and the teenager has taken it.
Lots of offensive threat here as well for the defender who has five goals (including a brace) and two assists in the past year. Born in Senegal, Fall has not represented his birthplace above the U17 level but a sustained run in the MLS side at age 19 may help open that door.
Santiago Moreno (age 22), M - Portland Timbers
Club-legend Diego Valeri returned back home to Buenos Aires during the off-season, which opened the door for 22-year-old Santiago Moreno.
Unfortunately, Moreno still does not have 2022 Sorare cards. Last year you’ll recall that Sorare did a second wave of mints for those players who missed media days earlier in the season. The midfielder has more than 450 followers already, but add him to your list and assume we’ll see his cards added later this summer.
The previous five players are all somewhere near buy-low territory due to their pretty slow 2022 starts to date. The next five players have already been in good form throughout 2022, which also means that their prices will be a bit higher, and don’t forget to factor in the early serial number bump that 1/ cards will get (and in turn how that impacts three day averages, etc).
Patryk Klimala (age 23), F - NY Red Bull
Who leads MLS in xA+xG per 90? Well it’s Valentin Castellanos, but Klimala does lead NYRB and his 4.8 npxG+xA is good for 13th (level with Leonardo Campana and Pablo Ruíz). Major League Soccer is not short on dynamic young forwards - in the top 20 MLS players by npxG+xA there are seven who are Sorare U23 eligible!
That scoring is quite good; expect that Klimala’s August birthday will help keep his price high with this entire season and the first half of MLS’ 2023 all eligible for U23 tournamnets.
Karol Świderski (age 25), F - Charlotte
Swiderski has found the net four times already during Charlotte’s rocky start. His scoring profile makes a lot of sense when you factor in his expected goals (1.7) and status as a starter in MLS newest expansion side.
He should play basically every match he’s fit and that is worth a bit, particularly if you’re buying for a summer threshold team that has card-winning upside. But Charlotte made a concerted effort to build from the back, and his over-performance on xG will need to be sustained to retain the early-season SO5 value.
Ismaël Koné (age 19), M - CF Montreal
Another young MLS player who has really come into his own when given the opportunity, Ismaël Koné has caught the eye of team Canada, earning a call up this spring.
No Sorare manager is going to turn down mid-week, international break utility for their players and playing for one of CONCACAF’s most dominant sides would be a nice value boost. Koné also boasts one of the most insane Sorare scoring lines of all time. This season in a 3-3 draw with Atlanta United he scored, assisted and won the penalty for his club’s three goals and also conceded a penalty to ATL.
Dániel Gazdag (age 26), M - Philadelphia Union
Gazdag has taken over a good amount of Philly’s playmaking duties after Jamiro Monteiro was traded to San Jose. That shows up nicely in his output as well.
Already at 07 xA + 4.6 xG through eight games, he benefits from penalty duty and generally being very good at professional football. Serving up through balls and crosses to Mikael Uhre and 21 year old Julián Carranza sounds like a productive gig. At 26, Gazdag has double digit caps for Hungary and a hand of quality SO5 scores for the international team.
Benjamin Bender (age 21), M - Charlotte
Rounding this out with another Charlotte player who has surprised many people so far. Ben Bender was the #1 Superdraft pick this year and he has played up to that price so far.
He’s got a goal and three assists in only 544 minutes of action so far with the help of set pieces for Charlotte. No one on the club has more assists and his share of corners offers a clear opportunity to continue building on those counting stats. The age (21) and U23 eligibly until June 30, 2025 may bump his early price; if you’re looking for a discount consider waiting until the long, hot stretch this summer when the expansion side is sure to struggle.
Other nominees? Mikael Uhre is mentioned above and the Philadelphia Union player has scores. He has scores for days.
And we cannot end this post without including NYCFC forward Talles Magno (age 19), F - NYCFC. At this age and with these scores, Magno needs to be on here too.
A goal plus three assists in the opening 510’ of his second MLS season is impressive, but Magno and teammate Castellanos are two of those seven MLS attackers who are top 20 in npxG+xA and Sorare U23 eligible. Castellanos is entering the final 12 months of his U23 eligibility and has a 3D 0.990 Ξ. Expect Magno to open to a 1.0 Ξ price, or higher, but move lower once the early serial numbers are gone.