MLS ranks Cyle Larin as league's finest player aged under 24
Major League Soccer has deemed Orlando City's Cyle Larin the best player in its annual 24 Under 24 countdown, lifting the Canadian forward nine spots from 2015's 10th-placed finish.
Larin entered the 2016 campaign off a rookie year that was arguably the finest seen in MLS history. The 21-year-old has followed 2015's 17 goals with 14 strikes in the same number of appearances (27) this campaign, and there are still five regular season matches remaining to try and bridge the gap with current leading scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips of the New York Red Bulls, who has 20 tallies.
Last year's 24 Under 24 winner was Fabian Castillo, who has since completed a protracted transfer from FC Dallas to Trabzonspor in Turkey, but the list is still notably well-populated with four players from the Colombian's former club.
The top 24 were as follows:
- Cyle Larin (Orlando City)
- Jack Harrison (New York City FC)
- Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders)
- Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas)
- Kekuta Manneh (Vancouver Whitecaps)
- Keegan Rosenberry (Philadelphia Union)
- Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew)
- Carlos Gruezo (FC Dallas)
- Jesse Gonzalez (FC Dallas)
- Lucas Melano (Portland Timbers)
- Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas)
- Diego Fagundez (New England Revolution)
- Ronald Matarrita (New York City FC)
- Luciano Acosta (D.C. United)
- Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake)
- Jordan Allen (Real Salt Lake)
- Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution)
- Tim Parker (Vancouver Whitecaps)
- Fatai Alashe (San Jose Earthquakes)
- Matt Polster (Chicago Fire)
- Christian Higuita (Orlando City)
- Sean Davis (New York Red Bulls)
- Tommy Redding (Orlando City)
- Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)
For the first time, two rookies - Jack Harrison and Jordan Morris - have broken into the top three, and there are a total of 16 debuts on the list which is the most since the annual ranking of the league's youngsters began in 2010.