Ranking the Top 75 MLS Players of 2024: 14. Ryan Gauld

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Ryan Gauld has been unstoppable since arriving at Vancouver Whitecaps. In his four seasons, he's seen an uptick in production each year, meaning that 2024 was his best season yet. He scored 10 goals and assisted 15 during quite the successful campaign. The attacking midfielder is a chance creation specialist and is the focus for everything the team does. The Whitecaps were very streaky, going on a plethora of positive and negative runs. In the end, they were forced to participate in a play-in game after an eighth-place finish in the West.

The Scotsman got going in the second month of the season, with three goals and an assist during a good run of form. He scored in a loss against Miami at the end of May and took off after that. He followed that performance with a brace against Sporting Kansas City, a brace of goals against Colorado and back to a double of goals in a 3-2 loss to New England. He then grabbed a hat trick of assists against Minnesota soon after. The multi-assist game tally increased in a 4-1 road win over St. Louis. He did it again with two more assists to defeat San Jose. Vancouver was supposed to host the play-in game against Portland, but a scheduling conflict saw them go on the road and dismantle the Timbers 5-0, including a Gauld hat trick. He scored twice in the series against LAFC, though the series was lost in three games.

Gauld boasts some of the best numbers in Major League Soccer, even outside his 25 goal contributions. The 29-year-old created over three chances and completed over two crosses per 90. He also had 0.35 xA per match. He won just under 55% of his duels, which is always impressive effort from a more attacking player. His 35% cross accuracy is also quite high for an action that usually goes harmless. Additionally, he won 1.42 tackles per 90 and completed 58% of his dribbles. He will be a crucial part of the Whitecaps' 2025 season and it will need similar production from its star. Gauld comes in at No. 14.

14) RYAN GAULD | MID, VAN | PER 90 STATS (PERCENTILE)

3.03 CHANCES CREATED PER 90 (95%)

2.09 SUCCESSFUL CROSSES PER 90 (96%)

0.35 xA PER 90 (96%)

54.6% DUELS WON (95%)