Denis Bouanga, left, takes the pitch in a playoff match against Austin FC at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.
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On Sunday evening, LAFC attacker Denis Bouanga passed a somewhat astonishing benchmark. Only a bit over three years into his Black-and-Gold career, the Gabon international scored his 100th and 101st goals for the club in all competitions while helping his side to a round one series clinching 4-1 victory at Austin FC.
He now has 31 goals and nine primary assists in 2025 competitive fixtures alone, and with 24 league goals, he became the first player in MLS history to reach 20 or more in three consecutive seasons.
Despite all that, he’s unlikely to win the 2025 MLS MVP award ahead of stellar campaigns from Lionel Messi and Anders Dreyer. And he’s no longer the most visible star within his own dressing room, with that role now falling to former Tottenham Hotspur attacker and Korean national team legend Son Heung-min.
With Bouanga’s 31st birthday approaching later this month, it certainly seems likely he may never win the award. And if he doesn’t, he might go down as the best MLS player never to do so.
Bad Timing
The first part of the equation is that it’s objectively far harder to win the award now than at any point in the league’s history.
There’s 30 teams – three times as many as MLS began with in 1996 – and there’s also still the world’s best living player hanging around, who just inked a three-year contract extension in South Florida. With 29 goals and 19 assists, the 38-year-old Messi has produced one of the greatest seasons in MLS history and is a near lock to become the first back-to-back MVP winner. And at this rate, who is to say he can’t continue to defy father time for another couple seasons?
Additionally, Son’s arrival may take some of the future burden off Bouanga in terms of attacking production. That shouldsmake the Black-and-Gold a better team, but it will also take the shine off any future Bouanga MVP resume.
Too Consistent?
Further, while Bouanga’s three consecutive 20-plus goal seasons is a sensational accomplishment, it might also unfairly stack the deck against him in the mind of MVP voters.
Before Messi won the honor in 2024, the recent list of winners featured several players who posted uniquely great seasons relative to the rest of their MLS careers. In 2023, Luciano Acosta exceeded his previous MLS best by seven goals. In 2022, Hany Mukhtar also exceeded his previous best by the same amount to win the MVP/Golden Boot double. In 2019, Carlos Vela posted a 34-goal, 15-assist season he would never come close to replicating. In 2018, Joseph Martinez became the first player in MLS history to surpass 30 regular season goals.
Bouanga’s 2025 numbers are similar to those which won the award for Acosta and Mukhtar, but they aren’t all that different from his own 2023 and 2024 efforts. That probably makes his achievements a bit less impressive in the minds of voters, even if it’s not particularly fair.
A Small Club
And because MLS has spent much of its history as a league with many fewer teams – launching with only 10 in 1996 – the list of truly elite MLS players who have never captured the MVP is pretty small.
D.C. United’s Jaime Moreno was the one common thread of four MLS Cup winning sides. Nicolas Lodeiro helped the Seattle Sounders win two MLS Cups and reach four finals. Two-time MLS Golden Boot winners Jeff Cunningham and Bradley Wright-Phillips were MVP finalists who ultimately fell short, as was MLS second-all-time leading goal scorer Kei Kamara. That’s probably the list.
If Bouanga remains in MLS for a few more seasons and produces as a rate anywhere close to that of his first three seasons, he will certainly have an argument as the best of that group. And it’s a case that will only grow louder if the Black-and-Gold add a couple more titles during his tenure to their 2022 domestic double and 2024 U.S. Open Cup.