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Ryan Kelly
Jefferson Savarino
While I’d like to say it will be Plata or Rusnak, I am personally looking for creativity from those two more than goals. Lots of scoring from them will be great, but Savarino seems to have another level in terms of outplaying markers in the penalty area and finishing shots. If the attacking group gets on the same page this year, it could give Savarino plenty of looks on goal, and he’ll likely have a few dangerous set piece chances as well.
Wirtjo Leonard
Joao Plata
Plata looked great last year for long periods of time, especially when players were out with injuries and international call-ups, he really was the one to run the offense. - Despite the turnover problem. - In pre-season he has looked as hungry as ever, bagging a couple of goals across multiple games. His assertiveness and quickness on the attack means that he’s up for a big year in terms of both goals and assists. That is of course granted that he can stay healthy. Additionally, his recent expulsion from the Ecuadorian National Team gives him further incentive to up his game in order to get called up again. It will be interesting to see how his combination play changes up depending whether he’s sitting behind Luis Silva or Alfredo Ortuno.
Jordan Webb
Jefferson Savarino
The best is yet to come from this youngster. With a full season to work with he’s gonna have even better marks than what we saw in 2017. Savarino has support and depth all around him with Real Salt Lake bringing in a lot of strong talent this off-season. His teammates are aware of his talent, and I expect him to be in the mix and seeing a lot of the ball. He plays with intelligence and speed to push defenders where he wants them to be, and his accuracy and quickness on the shot are unexpected. I hope to see him taking as many chances as he can to give us some quality goals for the highlight real.
Matt Montgomery
Alfredo Ortuño
OK — so this is definitely a long shot, and I actually will stand by this, but I don’t think Ortuño will even come close to nabbing the Golden Boot in MLS. His last season in La Liga 2 saw him score 17 goals, and I think he’ll decline slightly from that — maybe 12 or 13, optimistically. That should be just enough to get him over the mark I’m expecting from Albert Rusnak, Jefferson Savarino, and Joao Plata — somewhere between 7 and 12.
Megan Webb
Joao Plata
I know I know, he’s been predicted to be our top scorer since like what, 2014? This is going to be his year though. He looked determined in the little we saw of him in preseason as well as I think he’s finally got a good support system behind him. The past few years it’s been sort of a revolving door of forwards, but finally we have a strong unit surrounding Plata in Jefferson Savorino, Albert Rusnak, Luis Silva etc. Plata is going to get his goals this season, solely because he’s got some of the best guys around him for playing the ball to the right spot.