Ranking the Top 7 MLS Midfielders in the 2021 Season

The Major League Soccer season is only seven or eight games old for the league's 27 clubs.

In the short span, it has been made clear who the league's best midfielder is. 

New England's Carles Gil has been the driving force of his team's attack since his arrival in January 2019, and he has taken his play up to another level to begin the 2021 campaign.

The real debate regarding MLS' best midfielders starts at No. 2, and it is a spirited one as you try to compare the best defensive midfielders with the top chance creators.

The top attack-minded midfielders are easy to identify because of their goal, assist and key pass totals. A dive into some deeper metrics is required to pick out the top defensive-minded players. 

One thing the top seven players at the position all have in common is they are important cogs for teams expected to be at the top of both conference tables all season long. 

Jack Price has been one of the most underrated players in MLS since he moved to the Colorado Rapids in 2019.

He began his MLS career with a 10-assist season, and he has been a consistent force in midfield since then.

The 28-year-old midfielder produced three assists in seven games this season, and he has a pass success rate of 80.8 percent. 

Price's stability in the middle of the park helped the Rapids start with the fourth-best record in the Western Conference with 13 points. 

Price's ability to dictate the pace and also contribute to the attack with key passes and on set pieces should help the Rapids compete for a home playoff game, and it could make him an underrated pick for the MLS All-Star Game in August. 

Jesus Medina already matched his goal output from 2019, and he is one tally away from tying his single-season high in MLS. 

The New York City FC player featured in a larger role up top since Heber is working his way back from a long-term injury.

Medina and Valentin Castellanos have combined for nine goals, and the 24-year-old Paraguayan has been more efficient with his shots on target.

Medina put 11 of his 20 attempts on the frame, and he has put at least one shot on target in six of his seven league matches this season.

Even when Heber returns in the summer, Medina could be a critical piece to NYCFC's attack. When the Brazilian is at full strength, he, Medina and Castellanos could form one of the deadliest attacking trios in the league. 

Cade Cowell was the breakout teenage star of the opening two months. 

The 17-year-old Californian marveled with his cutting runs through opposing defenders and goalscoring, while his versatility in lining up anywhere from midfield to attack has been a tremendous boost for his team.

Cowell produced two goals and three assists in a two-game span and has been impressive for his age in every aspect of the game. 

Cowell has an opportunity to bolster his goal and assist totals more than other young players because the San Jose Earthquakes play in a wide-open man-marking system that typically lends itself to high-scoring affairs. 

San Jose's overall form dipped prior to the June break, but Cowell did enough to place him in the United States men's national team conversation.

He may not be in the mix for a roster spot yet, but if he continues to impress, he could receive a look from Gregg Berhalter and gain the attention of European clubs looking for the next star out of MLS. 

All Emanuel Reynoso has done at Minnesota United is thrive inside the final third. 

The Argentinian midfielder ended the 2020 season with an assist in six consecutive games, and he has been in the middle of most of the Loons' chances in 2021. 

Reynoso is second to Gil in key passes with 25 and is tied with FC Dallas' Franco Jara for the sixth-most shots. 

His numbers are lower than some of the other creative midfielders because Minnesota got off to a slow start, but he was much better in the victories over the Vancouver Whitecaps and FC Dallas before the break. 

With Minnesota looking more like itself from a year ago, Reynoso's assist totals should climb, and he could eventually compete for the league lead in that category. 

Joao Paulo has been fantastic for the first-place Seattle Sounders. 

The Brazilian has been one of the most active pieces of the Sounders' buildups, with 538 touches and a 78.2 pass success rate. 

The 30-year-old midfielder also chipped in four assists, which is tied for second-best with another Brazilian, Fabio from the New York Red Bulls. Only Gil has more than those two. 

Paulo was placed into a similar situation as Medina. Jordan Morris is out of the Seattle lineup with a torn ACL, and Nicolas Lodeiro is working back to full strength. 

The Brazilian has answered the call so far, and when Lodeiro gets back into the squad, Seattle should have an even better attack. The Sounders have scored 14 goals over eight matches. 

Leon Flach has gone from the second division in Germany to a potential USMNT player at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in just a few months. 

The German American midfielder was plucked from St. Pauli by the Philadelphia Union, and he turned into a vital part of their midfield setup. 

Flach impressed the most with his defensive actions, especially in pressuring situations. Twenty-three of the 34 tackles he made resulted in a win of possession. Additionally, 86 of Flach's 223 pressures on the ball have resulted in a change of possession within five seconds. 

Flach has not had to do much on the offensive end since Jamiro Monteiro and Alejandro Bedoya take care of the attacking responsibilities in the midfield. 

His defensive prowess could earn him a Gold Cup call-up since Berhalter is expected to name a roster full of MLS players due to preseason commitments for the European-based players. 

Gil is not only the top midfielder in MLS, but he is one of the best players across the league at any position. 

The Spanish midfielder should be in the Most Valuable Player discussion, and he could finish on top of a few key stat categories by the season's end. 

Gil leads the assist chart with five handouts. He has a one-assist lead on two players. His gap in key passes is much larger. 

Gil handed out 45 key passes in eight games. That total is 20 more than Reynoso's 25 in second place. 

The midfielder's production led to 11 goals scored by the Revolution and a first-place spot in the Eastern Conference prior to the June break. 

If he keeps up at this rate, Gil could breeze past his MLS single-season high of 14 assists set in 2019 and push toward the 20-assist mark.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from FBRef.com and MLSSoccer.com.