Sebastian Giovinco named MLS Newcomer of the Year
To absolutely no one's surprise Major League Soccer announced Monday that Sebastian Giovinco of Toronto FC was voted as the MLS Newcomer of the Year. According to MLS Giovinco received just over two-thirds of the team, player and media votes.
Giovinco, who came to TFC from Juventus in Italy in January 2015 set a MLS record for most combined goals and assists, 38, to lead the team to its first-ever playoff appearance.
The Newcomer of the Year honours a player in his first season in Major League Soccer who had prior professional experience, making him ineligible for Rookie of the Year honours. Pedro Morales of the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2014 was the only other player named from a Canadian team for the award that started in 2007.
The Italian-international claimed the Audi Golden Boot with a league-tying best 22 goals scored in 33 regular season matches, capturing the trophy via tiebreaker as his league-leading 16 assists beat out Columbus Crew SC forward Kei Kamara, who also finished with 22 tallies. Giovinco was involved in two or more goals in 12 games during the 2015 regular season – the most of any player in MLS history. He is also the first player in league history to reach 20+ goals and 10+ assists in a single season.
The 28-year-old is also a finalist for the Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player honour, which will be announced on December 2. Additionally, two of Giovinco's goals from the 2015 regular season are among the top eight in voting for the AT&T Goal of the Year, which is open to the public at MLSsoccer.com
