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Hany Mukhtar is Nashville's newest sports sensation. Here's why he might stay a while
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- Hany Mukhtar is Nashville's newest sports sensation. Here's why he might stay a while
Why the "second-best" player in Major League Soccer decided to play in Nashville for an expansion team is the same reason Hany Mukhtar might just stay awhile.
It's because uniquely creative talents want the room to be uniquely creative talents.
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The German-born Mukhtar believed he'd shine as a leading man on the right stage. Nashville SC general manager Mike Jacobs agreed.
Turns out, they were both correct.
Jacobs secured Nashville SC's first big signing by once telling Mukhtar, "We want to build a team around you." Mukhtar has more than justified such faith. He is The Tennessean's Sportsperson of the Year for 2021 after a spectacular second season in Nashville confirmed him as a breakout sensation both in North American soccer and in his new city.
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"It's such an honor that a club tells you, 'OK, we want to build a team around you,'" Mukhtar said. "Of course, it's pressure. You have to perform and help the team, but it's a great honor. …
"I'm happy to be here and to build a big, big club in MLS for the future."
In leading Nashville to the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and second round of the playoffs , Mukhtar totaled 16 regular-season goals (fifth-best in MLS) and 12 assists (fourth).
Among Mukhtar's 2021 highlights: Scoring the club's first hat trick in about six minutes on July 17 against Chicago; five multi-goal games; goals in the season's final four games, including three in the playoffs and an indelible solo effort to score the go-ahead goal in Nashville's first-round win over Orlando at Nissan Stadium.
After goals, he'd celebrate with a salute – as a nod to Nashville's fans, he explained.
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"Hany has all the tools to be a special player in our league," Jacobs said, "but he had never been the goal threat he was here in 2021 at any point prior. His ability to create and finish chances this season rose in epic proportions to the point that he became one of the elite players in our league."
Mukhtar received late support for the MVP award in MLS. As J. Sam Jones of MLSSoccer.com wrote, "By the numbers, there hasn't been a more complete attacking player in the league this year."
However, Mukhtar ended up second in the vote behind New England's Carles Gil , who'd been an overwhelming favorite to win for months. It speaks to Mukhtar's personality that he was clearly disappointed with a silver medal, anyway.
"No one likes second place," he said. "We have to be honest. … I wish that I had won it, and I think I deserved it. But also, I want to say that the guy who won — Carles Gil — he's a fantastic player. He deserved it, too."
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A welcome change
Born in Berlin, Mukhtar played for Germany's youth national teams before stints at Hertha in Germany, Portugal's Benfica and Austria's Red Bull Salzburg before four seasons at Brondby in Denmark.
Prior to leaving, he had previously had opportunities to go to MLS and the timing hadn't been right. But Mukhtar wasn't a secret. "At the same time we were pursuing Hany," Jacobs said, "there were multiple MLS clubs also trying to secure his signature."
Jacobs sold Mukhtar on a vision of him as the protagonist in a yet-written story of a brand new club. This was meaningful to Mukhtar. Because he always played the No. 10 position.
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The No. 10s are the top talents, the playmakers, the ones responsible for creating, scoring goals, making others better, whatever the situation instinctively demands. It's not just a midfielder or a striker. Pele, Maradona, Lionel Messi – all donned the No. 10.
Same, too, for Mukhtar.
"If someone is coming to you and just talking about a project, it's hard to really imagine," Mukhtar said. "When I signed (with Nashville), the team wasn't in MLS. That's never the case in Europe. When a team wants to sign you, the team is already there. You can see how they play, which formation, which system. That wasn't given with Nashville.
"But their project and their ideas was exactly what I needed for my career. I think so far I made the right step to come to Nashville."
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That wasn't the case right away, though. Mukhtar's first season in MLS, he struggled. To score goals, to create goals, stay healthy in the heat, with a lot of things. He was on a new continent, in a new country, in the middle of a pandemic that alienated him from family and friends. Nashville overachieved in 2020 and reached the playoffs, but it was mostly because of its defense. Mukhtar showed flashes, but ...
"My first year was not how we expected," Mukhtar said. "In general, because of COVID, but for me personally, it wasn't a year where I could say it was a great year for me. But they still believed in me (at Nashville SC). There was never a doubt in their mind."
In 2021, Mukhtar was immediately a different player. He looked more comfortable in all ways – and more fluid and dangerous on the field. He benefited from the addition of veteran MLS striker C.J. Sapong, on and off the field. He'd pick Sapong's brain before games about the tendencies of defenders and what worked best.
Over the course of the season, Nashville coach Gary Smith worked in a 3-4-3 formation that helped Mukhtar's production take off quickly.
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"We've always seen Hany as a 10, a creator," Smith said, "but in our new shape, he took up the role of a striker. He had more attacking freedom, but now had more weight on his shoulders to be a goal threat, and he rose to the challenge."
"I really liked it," Mukhtar said. "I was closer to the opponent's goal. I was more involved in all of our attacking situations. I think that helped my whole game."
Smith described Mukhtar in 2021 as "a more confident, positive and aggressive attacking force that frightened opponents."
Future opportunities?
Mukhtar's 2021 season was so impressive that it was fair to wonder where it could lead. His soccer value globally is up to $7.15 million (up from $3.3 million a year ago), according to Transfermarkt , a German-based website that tracks such things.
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That's a strong number. It's the highest on Nashville's team, but it's also behind 20 other players in MLS, in large part because of Mukhtar's age. He'll turn 27 in March. And while his skill is worthy of some of Europe's biggest leagues, his age makes it less likely a wealthy club would come calling with a high-dollar transfer offer than if he was, say, 18 or 19. It's still not impossible, though.
Mukhtar is under contract with Nashville SC through the end of next season.
And there's also the question of whether he even aspires to return to play in Europe or in the Bundesliga in his native Germany.
"Honestly, no," he replied. "The Bundesliga is one of the biggest leagues in the world, and one of the best leagues. But I don't think necessarily that I have to go back to Germany or to Europe to make my career.
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"We have great goals here in Nashville. We want to achieve something with the city. We'll get our own stadium. I mean, I can't wait to have our own fans in our stadium."
The appeal of Nashville for Mukhtar, too, is the same as it was all along: A leading role.
Nashville's belief and investment in Mukhtar were unyielding – and subsequently validated. I wouldn't call it a desire to be a big fish in a small pond. It's more a preference to play as a creative force on a team that desires him to be one.
In other words, he can be himself on the field in Nashville.
"I'm a big fan of the Bundesliga, don't get me wrong," Mukhtar said. "But when I watch the Bundesliga, for me personally, they don't — except the big teams — they don't have really creative players. … (When) I grew up, every team in the Bundesliga, they had a No. 10. He was the creative player. You went to the stadium, actually, to watch him. That has changed in the last (five) years. Unfortunately for me, it's harder for me to find the right club in Europe, because my position is not really there."
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"Here in MLS," Mukhtar added, "a lot of teams play with the creative players. They give more chances or more credit to creative offensive players than in Europe."
Nashville SC once gave Mukhtar the chance. He gave Nashville one, too.
Each side seems thrilled with how it's going.
"Nashville is definitely a second home now," Mukhtar said. "Of course, it's just my second year here. But I like Nashville. I love the city. I love the mentality, the character here in the South. So I can really imagine staying longer here."
Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar is the city's newest sports sensation
