Georgios Giakoumakis beats Messi to MLS Newcomer of the Year award

The 2023 MLS season is nearing its end and with the playoffs now well underway, the league has started revealing the recipients of its individual awards - for the competition’s best performers. Voting, which is split three ways between MLS players, coaches and the media, ended on 23 October.

On Thursday, the MLS announced the winner of the ‘Newcomer of the Year’ award which, to the surprise of many, did not go to Lionel Messi - one of the nominees. Instead, the accolade went to Greek forward Georgios Giakoumakis, who has been the great revelation this year at Atlanta United.

Impressive figures

Giakoumakis arrived in Major League Soccer in February, joining Atlanta designated player on a $5 million deal from from Celtic. It was money well spent. The Greek striker is one of the league’s top scorers with 17 goals in the regular phase - figures which earned him the Newcomer of the Year award ahead of Messi and Eduard Löwen.

Giakoumakis totalled 45.78% of the votes with a breakdown of Players: 34.34%, Coaches: 46.34%, Media: 56.65%.

Messi meanwhile received 35.54% of the votes from players, 34.15% from clubs and 12.14% from the media, giving him an overall score of 27.28%. Löwen came third with 15.44% of the total votes: 11.45% (players), 14.63% (coaches), 20.23% (media).

Giakoumakis becomes the third Atlanta United footballer to win this recognition for the best signing of the season, following in the footsteps of Thiago Almada and Miguel Almirón, who is now with Newcastle.