Most of the draft talk has hinted that he projects as a winger, but Mueller’s close control and knack for making plays opens up the possibility of him playing in the middle as well. Last season he played as a withdrawn forward in a 442 formation, but realistically he has the positional versatility to adapt to United generally playing with just one center forward. Mueller combines that with creativity, invention, and a knack for providing great service from set pieces. For example, he ended up posting the best agility test score at the MLS combine, which is a promising thing for a shifty attacker who does a lot of his work on the dribble. There’s no doubt that those things are useful, and Mueller more than meets expectations in that department. It’s not all that common to find attacking players out of the NCAA pool that are primarily known for their technical ability this is a cohort that generally ends up being about speed, strength, and other athletic qualities. Obviously the numbers tell a compelling story, but that’s not the reason we chose to take Mueller. MLS mock draft 2018: Tomas Hilliard-Arce goes as top pick As a junior, Mueller was also prolific, producing 8 goals and 11 assists for the Badgers. Mueller, the 2017 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and a Second Team All-American (he also made the Third Team in 2016), lead the entire country in assists this past year, posting 9 goals and 20 assists in 21 appearances (all starts). That’s how we ended up selecting Chris Mueller, a forward/midfielder who helped lead the Wisconsin Badgers to the 3rd round of this year’s NCAA tournament. The priority, first and foremost is to not miss out on what is a diminishing pool of legitimate coming out of the NCAA ranks just because you have a couple of capable players at that spot. Perry Kitchen spent a year at right back because United had starting defensive midfielders. Birnbaum, for example, was picked by a team that already had two veteran starting center backs in place. It’s a far more simple idea: figure out who the best player is, full stop, and pick that player. United’s current projected starting lineup would feature three such players ( Nick DeLeon, Taylor Kemp, and Steve Birnbaum).įrom the outside looking in, United’s thought process when it comes to picks in the first half of the first round is not very concerned with position at all. ![]() In recent years, they’ve turned first round picks into starters nearly every time. What does that mean, exactly? United seriously scouts the college ranks, and has a strong track record in finding players who are good enough to stick in MLS. ![]() ![]() United for a moment, and every year we’ve tried our best to mimic what Dave Kasper, Ben Olsen, and the rest of United’s staff would do on draft day provided that they were not allowed to trade their picks. Every year, we’ve pretended to be in charge of D.C. In a pre-Superdraft tradition around these parts, we join the other MLS blogs on SB Nation to conduct a mock draft.
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