Ranking the Top 7 Players in the 2021 MLS Season

The 2021 Major League Soccer season has seen its share of brilliant individual performances over 10 games for most of the 27 squads. 

The continued excellence from April to June established a clear hierarchy for the Most Valuable Player award and the other positional honors that will be handed out after the 34-game campaign. 

Carles Gil of the New England Revolution is the early front-runner for the MVP award thanks to his consistent pressure in the final third. 

Philadelphia's Andre Blake is at the top of the list to repeat as the Goalkeeper of the Year, while Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez can make a case to be Comeback Player of the Year. 

The Defender of the Year honor typically goes to center backs, but one full back is making a strong argument to be at least be a finalist when November rolls around. 

The top seven players in MLS this season were chosen based off their individual statistics, as well as the impact they have on their respective clubs.

Kyle Duncan could follow New York Red Bulls teammate Caden Clark into European soccer soon. Clark will remain with the Red Bulls for the rest of the season before moving to RB Leipzig.

The 23-year-old American right back has thrived under new manager Gerhard Struber, and he tops a handful of defensive stat categories. 

Duncan leads MLS with 31 interceptions, and he is second to teammate Sean Davis for the most combined tackles and interceptions with 62. 

The United States men's national team prospect even helped on the attacking front with a goal in the Red Bulls' recent 2-0 home victory over Nashville SC.

Duncan only has one full season of MLS play under his legs from 2020, but that should not limit any potential move overseas. Some prospects have joined European clubs straight from MLS academies. 

Since the Red Bull pipeline to Salzburg and Leipzig in Europe is strong, Duncan could follow Clark, a new RB Leipzig signing, over to Europe in the next 12 months to join Matt Miazga, Tyler Adams and the growing list of New York Red Bulls alumni in that part of the world. 

Blake does not have the best goalkeeping numbers across the league, but he does make the largest impact in his club's games. 

For example, the Jamaican netminder had two saves in Wednesday's 1-0 win over the Columbus Crew. One of the denials was a point-blank save in the 82nd minute to preserve three points. 

The late stop on Wednesday was the 500th career save in the regular season made by the two-time Goalkeeper of the Year. 

Blake has six clean sheets in 10 regular-season matches. He has an 84.4 save percentage, but he is not facing a high volume of shots thanks to the terrific pair of center backs in front of him: Jack Elliott and Jakob Glesnes. 

Elliott and Glesnes are deserving of Defender of the Year nominations, and Leon Flach would be a fitting Newcomer of the Year. The German-American has moved himself into the USMNT picture with a strong start after moving from St. Pauli in the German second division.

If Philadelphia's defensive spine continues to play at a high rate, it should contend for a repeat of its Supporters' Shield crown.

Nani has been on a similar scoring pace as some of the top forwards in MLS.

The Portuguese winger scored in consecutive matches against Toronto FC and the San Jose Earthquakes to extend his run to five tallies over the last six matches. 

Nani produced his best attacking output of the 2021 campaign on Tuesday, when he recorded a goal and two assists in a 5-0 home blowout victory over the San Jose Earthquakes. 

Nani is up to five goals and two assists in seven starts for the Lions, and he has helped the club push into second place in the Eastern Conference table behind New England. 

If he keeps up his attacking pace, Nani would eclipse his 12-goal, 10-assist output from his debut season in 2019.

The Seattle Sounders are already running away with the best defensive marks in the Western Conference. 

Nouhou Tolo has led the Sounders back line that has conceded five times over 10 contests, and he has helped the club earn a plus-13 goal differential. 

None of the other 12 clubs in the West have conceded fewer than 10 goals, and Sporting Kansas City is the lone side in that conference with a goal differential above plus-five. 

Orlando, Philadelphia and the Columbus Crew have similar defensive marks in the Eastern Conference. The three clubs have a single-digit goals allowed total. New England, New York City FC, Orlando and Philadelphia all have a goal differential at plus-five or above. 

Nouhou's individual performances appear more remarkable when you consider the tactical shift made by the Sounders in the offseason. 

The Cameroonian had played as a full back for all of his MLS career and then shifted into the center back role in a back three and has become an even better player for the perennial MLS Cup contender. 

Raul Ruidiaz could be locked in a two-way battle with Chicharito for the Golden Boot all season. 

Seattle's prolific Peruvian forward is level with the L.A. Galaxy's Mexican superstar after bagging a goal each against the Galaxy and Real Salt Lake in the last week. 

Ruidiaz is two strikes away from his fourth consecutive double-digit season with the Sounders since he entered MLS in 2018. 

The Peruvian's single-season high is 12 goals from the condensed 17-game regular season in 2020, and he is on pace to easily eclipse that total if he stays healthy in 2021. 

If the Sounders remain at the top of the West and are in contention for the Supporters' Shield, Ruidiaz could make a serious case to challenge Gil for the Most Valuable Player award. 

Despite all of the success the Sounders have had in MLS, they have not had a player win the MVP yet.

Hernandez has blasted his struggles from 2020 well into the past with his rapid-fire start in front of goal in 2021. 

Chicharito has been at the top of the Golden Boot race since Week 1, when he bagged a pair of tallies against Inter Miami.

The Mexican forward followed that up with a hat trick in Week 2 against the Red Bulls. 

He notched a pair of goals in consecutive games in May, and he bagged goal No. 8 in the Galaxy's Wednesday night win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. 

Hernandez is responsible for more than half his team's 14 goals. His personal goal tally is enough to match or beat the scoring total of five clubs. 

If the MVP award was decided after 10 games, Gil would run away with most of the first-place votes. 

The Spanish midfielder owns a commanding lead in assists (10) and key passes (49) over the rest of the league. 

No other player has more than five assists or 30 key passes this season. 

Gil's production exploded out of the June international break, as he has contributed an assist on four of the Revolution's six goals scored versus NYCFC and the Red Bulls. 

Gil has one goal to his 10 assists. He has played a role in 11 of New England's 17 goals. The Revs lead the Eastern Conference in scoring. Only Sporting KC and Seattle have found the back of the net more in MLS. 

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from FBRef.com and MLSSoccer.com.