Nashville SC’s Hany Mukhtar named 2022 Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player

Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar has been named the 2022 Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player, the league announced on Tuesday. 

Mukhtar is the first German-born player to earn the award to add to his record-breaking season after having secured the MLS Golden Boot. The Nashville talisman led all players with 34 goal contributions (23 goals, 11 assists) in 2022, which was tied for the fifth most in a single season in MLS history. Mukhtar scored or assisted in 65.4% of Nashville SC’s goals in 2022, the most by a single player this season. 

Mukhtar recorded 21 goals and seven assists in his final 22 games of the season, which culminated in a league-high 11 goals since the start of August. The German playmaker had a historic month of August, becoming just the fourth player in MLS history to total at least 12 goal contributions (eight goals and four assists) in a single calendar month. With Nashville fighting for a playoff spot down the stretch of the season, Mukhtar recorded 10 combined goals and assists as part of Nashville’s club-record four-game winning streak from August 21 to September 3.

The Nashville forward is also the sixth European-born player to win the award since 2000 and the third consecutive after Carles Gil in 2021 and Alejandro Pozuelo in 2020. Mukhtar becomes the fourth player in the last decade to win the Most Valuable Player award and the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi in the same season.

The Nashville SC playmaker was the first player to lead the league in goal contributions in consecutive seasons since Sebastian Giovinco from 2015-16. Mukhtar’s 62 combined goals and assists from 2021-22 are the fifth most over a two-year span in MLS history. Since the start of 2021, Mukhtar’s 62 combined goals and assists are 16 more than the next-closest player (FC Cincinnati’s Luciano Acosta, 46).

Nashville is the fourth expansion club to have a player earn the honor within their first three MLS seasons, along with LAFC (Carlos Vela in 2019), Atlanta United FC (Josef Martínez in 2018) and New York City FC (David Villa in 2016). Nashville produced a club-record 13 victories in 2022, with seven of those coming on the road.

Mukhtar finished ahead of Austin FC forward Sebastián Driussi and Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Andre Blake to take home the award, with LA's Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and LAFC's Cristian Arango rounding out the top five. 

The Landon Donovan MLS MVP award has been presented since 1996 to the individual determined by a poll of players, club technical staff and the media to be the most valuable to his club. Below is a breakdown of the voting results for 2022.

A full list of previous Landon Donovan MLS MVP winners can be found below: