Top Right Mids in MLS

Here are the best right midfielders in MLS so far this season. With info on every position in the league, it's important to say that MLS has a problem filling certain positions with quality players. Right midfield happens to be one of those spots.

The mechanics behind this list are simple. I average the player's rank at WhoScored.com with my own here at Helltown. Example: Paul Arriola is ranked 166th at WS and 103 at Helltown = 134.5. I then tease out all the RM's and rank.

	Name(2)	BIRTHPLACE	Team	Age	Salary
1	Cristian Espinoza	Buenos Aires, Argentina	SJE	24	$550,000
2	Michael Barrios	Barranquilla, Colombia	FCD	28	$500,000
3	Julian Gressel	Neustadt an der Aisch, Germany	ATL	26	$133,000
4	Paul Arriola	Chula Vista, California	DC	24	$707,000
5	Ezequiel Barco	Villa Gobernador Galvez, Argentina	ATL	20	$1,425,000
6	Ilsinho	Sao Paulo, Brazil	PHI	34	$357,000
7	Alex Muyl	New York, New York	NYR	24	$127,750
8	Przemyslaw Frankowski	Gdansk, Poland	CHI	24	$661,688
9	Orji Okwonkwo	Benin City, Nigeria	MTL	22	$220,000
10	Ethan Finlay	Duluth, Minnesota	MIN	29	$400,008
11	Omar Browne	Panama City, Panama	MTL	25	$89,781
12	Ulises Segura	Guadalupe, Costa Rica	DC	26	$170,000

$379k: Median Salary for top RM's in MLS
24.5: Median age of top RM's in MLS

A lot of players playing in the prime part of their career's here. If you look closely you'll see that only one player is over the age of 30 (this table rounds age, 29.6 = 30). MLS is can be a very direct league. Some teams have adopted a more possession-based style, but even those games can devolve into direct affairs. What this means is lots and lots of running. It's almost a requirement to be young.

NOTABLE RIGHT MIDS

Cristian Espinoza Still owned by Villarreal CF and on loan to MLS's San Jose Earthquakes. He has spent almost all of his time on the right side this season. Matías Almeyda is doing a wonderful job with this player. Injury free this year with two goals and seven assists. Helltown has him ranked 4th best in MLS, WhoScored 24.

Michael Barrios He's as solid as ever with FC Dallas, now his 5th year with the team. "Can start on any team," might be an overused cliche, but it's 100% true with Barrios.

Julian Gressel Playing a little more on the right side of the formation in Atlanta this season, but he's versatile enough to play just about anywhere. His youth training was in Germany yet somehow found his way to the US via college (Providence). Atlanta picked him up in 2017 and he's been a consistent performer with them ever since. Grossly underpaid. Sometimes I think being a "draft pick" hurts the pocketbook the first few years. Hopefully, he gets a raise soon.

Here is the same list, only sorted by WhoScored rating:

Rating	Name	BIRTHPLACE	Team	Age	Mins
7.37	Ezequiel Barco	Villa Gobernador Galvez, Argentina	ATL	20	558
7.30	Cristian Espinoza	Buenos Aires, Argentina	SJE	24	1628
7.18	Michael Barrios	Barranquilla, Colombia	FCD	28	1695
7.12	Ilsinho	Sao Paulo, Brazil	PHI	34	657
7.04	Julian Gressel	Neustadt an der Aisch, Germany	ATL	26	1759
6.83	Paul Arriola	Chula Vista, California	DC	24	1492
6.83	Alex Muyl	New York, New York	NYR	24	1211
6.83	Omar Browne	Panama City, Panama	MTL	25	564
6.80	Przemyslaw Frankowski	Gdansk, Poland	CHI	24	1425
6.73	Orji Okwonkwo	Benin City, Nigeria	MTL	22	1072
6.52	Ulises Segura	Guadalupe, Costa Rica	DC	26	1143
6.47	Ethan Finlay	Duluth, Minnesota	MIN	29	1242

READ ABOUT OTHER POSITIONS

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Top MLS Left Backs

Here is a snapshot of the best leftbacks in MLS. The methodology is simple - It's the average of the WhoScored.com player rank and my own Helltown rank.

Example: Daniel Lovitz

196th: WhoScored.com Rank
139th: Helltown Rank
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167.5: Average Rank

That rank is out of all players in MLS to have played this year. From there I just tease out all the left-backs in the league to see who is best. I'll post the table then add a few notes.

LEFT BACKS
26: Median age of the top twenty
$234k: Median yearly wage

	Name	BIRTHPLACE	Team	Age	Salary
1	Jordan Harvey	Mission Viejo, California	LAF	36	$165,000
2	Kai Wagner	Geislingen an der Steige, Germany	PHI	22	$360,150
3	Brad Smith	Penrith, Australia	SEA	25	$564,365
4	Ali Adnan	Baghdad, Iraq	VAN	26	$547,333
5	Justin Morrow	Cleveland, Ohio	TFC	32	$330,000
6	Ronald Matarrita	Alajuela, Costa Rica	NYC	25	$420,000
7	Daniel Lovitz	Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania	MTL	28	$97,453
8	Donny Toia	Tucson, Arizona	RSL	27	$131,254
9	Kyle Duncan	New York, New York	NYR	22	$57,225
10	Adam Lundkvist	Nykoping, Sweden	HOU	25	$303,750
11	Edgar Castillo	Los Cruces, New Mexico	NER	33	$250,000
12	Jorgen Skjelvik	Baerum, Norway	LAG	28	$1,066,667
13	Joao Moutinho	Lisbon, Portugal	ORL	22	$203,000
14	Connor Lade	Morristown, New Jersey	NYR	30	$132,750
15	Mohamed El-Munir	Tripoli, Libya	LAF	27	$202,833
16	Chase Gasper	Alexandria, Virginia	MIN	24	$56,250
17	Waylon Francis	Puerto Limon, Costa Rica	CLB	29	$199,167
18	Kemar Lawrence	Kingston, Jamaica	NYR	27	$382,750
19	Nick Lima	Castro Valley, California	SJE	25	$218,438
20	Marcos Lopez	Callao, Peru	SJE	20	$387,750

NOTES: 1. You'll notice more than one left-back on a couple teams (NYR has 3!). That's because I'm using the position they play most this season. Three on the Red Bulls or two on San Jose mean the system employed by the coach is beneficial to whatever player is slotted in there. 2. MLS does not pay for this position. Only a handful of players earn more than $500k a year. 3. I always use STATS, Inc.'s Birthplace data. Keeps it simple.  4. I round ages up, so a 35.7 year-old is 36. 17.6 is 18 and so on.

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WHO I LIKE:

Kai Wagner (22, Germany) You've got a young (by MLS standards) player performing well on a good Philly team. There seems to be a feeling among the team there that his position is "up for grabs." They should start him every time he's able. Opta has him at 4 assists, STATS at 5. Either way, best at the position.

Brad Smith (25, Australia) Liverpool academy and then to the senior team from 2008-2016. Loaned to Swindon Town in 2014. Liverpool sold eventually sold him to AFC Bournemouth who has now loaned him to Seattle. Same as with Wagner - Opta has him at 4 assists, STATS at 5.

Ali Adnan (26, Iraq) His excellent performances are being wasted on a horrible Vancouver side. 2 assists and a goal to go along with 2 man of the match awards (highest rated player of the game). Overall, he's the highest-rated left back according to WhoScored.

Kyle Duncan (22, USA) He's splitting time on the right and left, but good performances at 22 years.

Jordan Harvey (36, USA) Long-time MLS-er that you may have never heard of. He's been in the league since 2006. Colorado, Seattle, Philly, Vancouver and now LAFC. He started in the league at $11,700 p/yr and still grossly underpaid at $165k.

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Here are the same group of players sorted by WhoScored rating. Includes minutes played, which can sometimes be misleading with players who only have a few games.

Rating	Name	BIRTHPLACE	Team	Age	Mins
7.19	Ali Adnan	Baghdad, Iraq	VAN	26	1572
7.07	Kyle Duncan	New York, New York	NYR	22	784
7.05	Chase Gasper	Alexandria, Virginia	MIN	24	483
7.00	Ronald Matarrita	Alajuela, Costa Rica	NYC	25	819
6.90	Mohamed El-Munir	Tripoli, Libya	LAF	27	410
6.84	Donny Toia	Tucson, Arizona	RSL	27	1154
6.83	Connor Lade	Morristown, New Jersey	NYR	30	845
6.80	Brad Smith	Penrith, Australia	SEA	25	1552
6.80	Joao Moutinho	Lisbon, Portugal	ORL	22	1072
6.79	Kai Wagner	Geislingen an der Steige, Germany	PHI	22	1792
6.79	Edgar Castillo	Los Cruces, New Mexico	NER	33	1357
6.78	Jordan Harvey	Mission Viejo, California	LAF	36	1439
6.77	Daniel Lovitz	Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania	MTL	28	1710
6.75	Justin Morrow	Cleveland, Ohio	TFC	32	1855
6.71	Jorgen Skjelvik	Baerum, Norway	LAG	28	1168
6.69	Adam Lundkvist	Nykoping, Sweden	HOU	25	1464
6.69	Kemar Lawrence	Kingston, Jamaica	NYR	27	904
6.68	Marcos Lopez	Callao, Peru	SJE	20	802
6.67	Waylon Francis	Puerto Limon, Costa Rica	CLB	29	1383
6.60	Nick Lima	Castro Valley, California	SJE	25	1040

A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS

MLS doesn't seem to want to spend on defense and at the goalkeeper position. It makes me wonder at times if MLS has a positional cap, of sorts. Regardless, there are good players here. Wagner and Adnan might give you a reason to watch two forgotten corners of MLS in Philly and Vancouver.

On the USMNT front, Daniel Lovitz shows up on this list in the top 10 (ish). It's easy to see why Gregg Berhalter picked him up in January and has included him ever since because Gregg operates like a computer.

GB: Is he the correct age?
CPU: YES.
GB: How did it play the previous season?
CPU: 1 GOAL 4 ASSISTS AS A LEFT BACK.
GB: Ohh. Where?
CPU: Hinterlands, Canada.
GB: I see he's an East Coast kid too, USMNT material.

That's basically it. Which is fine. When you look at the world through a New Jersey lens, Lovitz makes sense, but I think he's a tiny flash in the pan as far as MLS players. Duncan and Gasper might be worth a closer look. But that's it on the LB USMNT front in MLS.

Lastly, if I'm a team with any sort of ambition I'm looking to pluck away Ali Adnan. First Iraqi to play in Serie A, but a series of unfortunate events brought him to MLS. Here's his goal this year.