beIN SPORTS

By Graham Ruthven (@GrahamRuthven)

When the line-up for next week’s Major League Soccer dropped there was one notable absence. David Villa was there, as was Clint Dempsey and Kaka. But there was no place for the player who has shone brighter than anyone else this season, Sebastian Giovinco.

Indeed, the MLS All-Star game roster has raised eyebrows across North American soccer, with league commissioner Don Garber using his two picks to select Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard - two players who have only been with the respective new teams for a matter of days. Lampard has yet to even make his debut for New York City FC.

The Columbus Crew’s Kei Kamara probably deserved a place in the squad too, but it was the absence of Giovinco - MLS’s best player in 2015 - that drew the most derision. The Italian has been a shimmering star in the debut North American season, dragging Toronto FC through games almost single-handedly.

And Giovinco’s game-changing capacity and individual brilliance was demonstrated for all to see in last weekend’s frenetic 4-4 draw between TFC and NYC FC - with the playmaker netting a hat-trick and contributing an assist. He was simply irrepressible, bringing his goal tally for what is fast becoming a landmark season up to 11 from just 18 games.

“You see what he’s capable of doing on a day like today because he brought out a lot of skills and treats,” Vanney said after the game at Yankee Stadium. “But every game is different. Today, he showed what he’s capable of doing. This one has to go down as one of his best games for sure. He was excellent.”

Giovinco is the headline act Toronto FC has spent so much time - and money - waiting for. The BMO Field club has gone through more than their fair share of big-name Designated Players - Jermain Defoe, Danny Koevermans, Torsten Frings and Julian de Guzman just to name a few - to find that player, but the Atomic Ant is the star they have painstakingly searched for ever since their expansion season eight years ago.

At times Giovinco plays as if he finds MLS too easy. As a fully-fledged Italian international, North American soccer is most likely a level or two beneath the playmaker’s optimum standard, and it has been debated whether or not that is a good look for the league.

Nonetheless, more players of Giovinco’s quality can only be a good thing for the development of MLS in the United States and Canada. Consider how a 40,000-strong crowd left Yankee Stadium better entertained than any baseball fan has in recent years. If MLS is still focussing on attracting new supporters to the game, then Giovinco is certainly playing his part.

Much has been made of the $7 million salary Giovinco will receive from Toronto FC - making him Italy’s highest-paid soccer player - but the 28-year-old is so far proving to be worth every bit of that record outlay. Without the Italian Greg Vanney’s side would be significantly worse off this season.

But Giovinco still needs support from his team - something they are not affording him a great degree of right now. Toronto FC have won just four of the seven games the Italian has scored in this season, with Giovinco contributing half of his team’s total goal tally away from home. Even someone of his quality needs help - and TFC could do better in that regard.

For all its organic and grassroots progress over the past decade or so, MLS is very much still a league orientated around its big names - much like another other league anywhere in the world.

Although the way things are going, it might not be long before MLS is orientated around Giovinco. MLS’s highest-paid player is in every sense an all-star, even if he will watch next week’s game from afar.