Inter Miami midfielder Diego Gomez has been named No 1 in Major League Soccer’s (MLS) 22 Under-22 series.
Real Salt Lake winger Diego Luna, 21, is in second place and Philadelphia Union midfielder Jack McGlynn, 21, completes the top three.
Miami has five players on the 22-man list, marking the second season in a row the club has had the most representatives. Gomez, 21, is joined on the shortlist by team-mates Federico Redondo, Benjamin Cremaschi, Tomas Aviles and David Ruiz.
The Athletic reported in September Brighton & Hove Albion are set to sign Gomez for a fee of £11million and he will join the Premier League club at the end of the 2024 MLS season.
Philadelphia Union midfielder Cavan Sullivan, who in July became the youngest player in MLS history when he came on as a substitute in his side’s victory over New England Revolution aged 14 years and 293 days old, is No 15 on the list. The now 15-year-old will join Manchester City when he turns 18. His older brother Quinn Sullivan, 20, also plays for Philadelphia and is listed as N0 8 in the series.
Gomez has provided three goals and seven assists in 18 MLS appearances this season, with Miami unbeaten in the 15 games he has started.
The Paraguay international captained his side at the 2024 Olympics, where he provided a goal and two assists, and also scored his first senior goal for his country in a 1-0 win over Brazil in September.
(Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
He was listed as No 20 in last season’s 22 Under-22 list, having joined Miami from Club Libertad in 2023. His anticipated move to Brighton continues the Premier League club’s policy of buying young talent from across the world.
“We’re very proud of Diego for the tremendous growth he’s shown since arriving at the club and are happy to see it recognized with this special honor,” said Miami’s chief soccer officer and sporting director Chris Henderson. “He’s a game-changing player who makes everybody around him better. His dynamism paired with his effort has been crucial to the team’s success, and we are excited to see everything he will accomplish.”
MLS’s 22 Under-22 series aims to “spotlight the league’s top up-and-coming young talent”. The shortlist is selected by a panel of MLS coaches, general managers, sporting directors, and pundits from MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and select media, who ranked their top 22 young players based on “technical, tactical, physical and potential abilities”.
To be eligible, players must be 21 or younger before the end of the 2024 MLS regular season on October 19.
FC Dallas winger Alan Velasco was named No 1 in 2023. Other previous winners include USMNT forward Ricardo Pepi, now of PSV Eindhoven, during his time at Dallas in 2021, and international team-mate Brenden Aaronson, now with Leeds United, at Philadelphia in 2020.
Future Champions League winner Alphonso Davies won the accolade with Vancouver Whitecaps in 2018, following on from Atalanta United’s Miguel Almiron in 2017, who moved to Newcastle United two years later.
MLS 22 Under-22 class 2024
- Diego Gomez (Inter Miami)
- Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake)
- Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union)
- Brian Gutierrez (Chicago Fire)
- Federico Redondo (Inter Miami)
- Benjamin Cremaschi (Inter Miami)
- Obed Vargas (Seattle Sounders)
- Quinn Sullivan (Philadelphia Union)
- Jalen Neal (LA Galaxy)
- Esmir Bajraktarević (New England Revolution)
- Daniel Edelman (New York Red Bulls)
- Tomas Aviles (Inter Miami)
- Chris Brady (Chicago Fire)
- Nathan Saliba (CF Montreal)
- Kevin Kelsy (FC Cincinnati)
- Julian Aude (LA Galaxy)
- Owen Wolff (Austin FC)
- Cavan Sullivan (Philadelphia Union)
- David Martinez (LAFC)
- Christian McFarlane (New York City FC)
- David Ruiz (Inter Miami)
- Peyton Miller (New England Revolution)
(Top photo: Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
