Right out of the gate, this post is mostly my opinion on the Julian Gressel contract situation — what I think is going on, why I think it sucks. To set the stage on that though, and I’ll be brief with it because this point is obvious...
Julian Gressel is a top-tier midfielder in Major League Soccer
Consider that thirteen players have registered 11 or more open play assists (real assists, not MLS assists) in a single MLS season since 2011 (“the stats era”). On this list are names like Sebastian Giovinco, Ignacio Piatti, Obafemi Martins, and Luciano Acosta (and Yamil Asad!