Jordan Morris, Seattle's 'Haaland'
The Sounders' forward has become one of the most acclaimed players in the MLS.
A homegrown talent of the Western Conference club, he returned home in 2016 after a stint with the Stanford Cardinal. With them, he won the Hermann Trophy in 2015, which is awarded to the best collegiate player. His quality was evident from the start.
He went on loan to Swansea City in January 2021 with an option to buy. He couldn't pass up the chance to play in England: “I’m very excited. It's been a whirlwind week, but it’s great to be here and have everything sorted out.”
He returned from the loan in 2021 and once again became a key player for Seattle. This year, he has been the team's top scorer in the regular season with 11 goals, just as he was top scorer in 2016.
His outstanding performance has made him one of the league's leading figures. In fact, except for 2018 and 2021, his jersey has always been one of the best-sellers. According to the latest MLS update at the end of September, Morris's jersey was sixth highest sold.
He was nominated for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP Award 2023 and made the initial list of 30 footballers but didn't make it to the three finalists.
However, Morris is no stranger to end-of-season awards. In his debut year, 2016, he won the Rookie of the Year award. He scored 14 goals and provided four assists between the league and Playoffs.
In addition, the striker was part of the MLS Best XI in 2020. It was the first and only time he has been selected for the season's team. His market value rose from $3.5 million to $5 million after that year. Now it's around $5.7 million.
Whether he would stay in Seattle had been in doubt. His contract was set to expire this December, but the club acted in January and renewed it until 2027. It was announced alongside Cristian Roldán, who also signed for five seasons.
Last March, the MLS compared him to Erling Haaland, considered the world's best striker and runner-up in the Ballon d'Or, won by Messi. Morris scored four goals against Sporting Kansas City, leading to this accolade.
At 29, the Seattle native hopes to return to the United States national team, from which he has been absent recently. Despite this, he has 55 caps and was part of the Qatar World Cup squad.
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