Lucas Zelarayan was signed by the Columbus Crew as a Designated Player on Dec. 19, 2019. He was a record signing for the club, costing a reported $8 million to join Major League Soccer from Tigres UANL of Mexico’s Liga MX, as the Black & Gold made its transition from former head coach Gregg Berhalter to Caleb Porter.
As it turns out, that was money well spent. On Friday, Zelarayan was named MLS’s Newcomer of the Year for the 2020 season, an award for the player who made his MLS debut this year but has previous professional experience.