As soon as he arrived at Inter Miami, Lionel Messi changed the face of the team playing in the American Professional League (MLS), and even helped the team win its first championship in history. However, the world champion was not elected MLS Rookie of the Year 2023.
Joining Miami in July, Messi immediately made a difference for this club. The Argentine superstar scored 10 goals in 7 matches, many times helping his team escape danger and then winning the Leagues Cup, also the first title in the club’s history. Besides, Messi also participated in Inter Miami’s victory in the US Open Cup semi-finals.
However, in the final of this tournament, the striker born in 1987 had to sit out due to injury and his team lost 1-2 to Houston Dynamo. In total, the Argentine World Cup winner appeared 14 times for Inter Miami and scored 11 goals.
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As soon as he arrived at Inter Miami, Lionel Messi changed the face of the team playing in the American Professional League (MLS).
However, Messi’s momentum was interrupted by injury. During the important period when Inter Miami aimed for a place in the MLS play-off round, Messi had to mostly sit out. He only made 4 appearances in the starting lineup, scored only one goal and had 2 assists. Without Messi, Miami is out of breath and unable to compete in the MLS play-offs. This is also the reason why the 36-year-old superstar was not elected MLS Rookie of the Year 2023, even though he recently won the 8th Golden Ball title in his career.
The person who surpassed Messi in the MLS Rookie of the Year 2023 election is striker Giorgos Giakoumakis, who plays for Atlanta United. The Greek international left Celtic of Scotland to join Atlanta in February. To date, this 28-year-old striker has appeared in 27 matches for the new team, scoring 17 goals and 3 assists. The number of votes for Giakoumakis was up to 45.8%, completely overwhelming runner-up Messi (27.3% of the votes). This award honors the most influential first year in MLS, voted on by players, technical staff and the media.
Giakoumakis also became the second consecutive Atlanta player and third ever to be honored with this award, preceded by Thiago Almada (2022) and Miguel Almiron (2017).