Last year, we gave Santiago Rodríguez a C+: The attacking midfielder returned to New York City FC to sign a Designated Player contract, and yet he simply wasn't putting up DP performances. It's unfair to pin a team's poor results on one player – there was so much wrong with that young and imbalanced squad – but Rodríguez's inconsistent performances in 2023 certainly didn't help.
What a difference a year makes. Rodríguez went from being a streaky player in 2023 whose technical abilities could be undone by his impatience and temper, to a foundational midfielder in 2024 capable of lifting the team's overall performance in big games. To be sure, the new-and-improved edition of Santi could still blow a gasket and send the attack into a tailspin, but his growing maturity meant that the rest of the squad could increasingly rely on him match after match.
Still, Rodríguez still isn't quite meeting expectations. He might have been one of the better-attacking midfielders in Major League Soccer this year, but the ambitions of this club require that he be among the very best. True, Santi put up the strongest numbers of his career in 2024, scoring 12 goals and adding six assists per FBref. But he has some work to do if he's going to catch up with league leaders such as Luciano Acosta, Evander, Emil Forsberg, and Riqui Puig.
2024 MLS | Attacking Midfielders
| GP | G | A | G+A/90 | xG | xA | xG+xA/90 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evander | 28 | 15 | 15 | 1.10 | 9.9 | 11.3 | 0.77 |
| Luciano Acosta | 32 | 14 | 16 | 1.00 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 0.72 |
| Emil Forsberg | 19 | 9 | 4 | 0.86 | 6.5 | 3.5 | 0.67 |
| Riqui Puig | 29 | 13 | 9 | 0.78 | 8.8 | 7.4 | 0.57 |
| Santiago Rodríguez | 32 | 12 | 6 | 0.58 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 0.65 |
Still, Rodríguez is in the conversation, and had a solid 0.58 expected goal involvements per game. But that is nevertheless well behind Evander's stunning 1.10 goal involvements for Portland Timbers or Acosta's 1.0 for FC Cincinnati.
Notably, Rodríguez underperformed his expected goal involvements per Opta, with that 0.58 trailing his xG plus xA of 0.65 per Opta. Compare that to Evander, whose 1.10 goal involvements was higher than his 0.77 expected goal involvements.
In fact, Evander wasn't the only one who significantly outperformed his xG and xA in 2024. Acosta (1.00 vs 0.72), Forsberg (0.86 vs 0.67), and Puig (0.78 vs 0.57) all found a way to add more goals to their games: These players overdelivered for their clubs.
To be fair, the numbers deserve some context. New York City fielded the youngest and most inexperienced squad in the league this season – Acosta and Puig were in star-studded teams that were oozing with on-field chemistry – and Rodríguez's assist tally suffered due to poor finishing by Mounsef Bakrar and Hannes Wolf.
Besides, Santi is the most inexperienced of these elite midfielders, a player still figuring out his game. Acosta got his start at Boca Juniors, then spent five years at DC United and Atlas FC before joining Cincinnati in 2021. Forsberg ran the midfield and Malmö FF, Red Bull Leipzig, and the Swedish national men's team before joining New York Red Bulls. Puig played for FC Barcelona, and Evander for Vasco da Gama in Brazil's Série A, and FC Midtjylland in the Danish Superliga.
Rodríguez, on the other hand, gained most of his First Team experience at New York City, a club he joined in 2021 when he was just 21. He arrived in New York after playing in Uruguay for a little more than two years — not exactly a baptism by fire compared to competing for minutes at Barcelona, or suiting up for a Champions League knockout game. In terms of his development, Santi is one to two years behind Evander and Puig, and much farther behind seasoned veterans like Acosta and Forsberg.
In other words, the future is still bright for Rodríguez. Does he have the technical skills it takes to be an elite midfielder? Yes, if he continues to work on his game. Just as important, does he have the temperament? Yes, if you consider how much he evolved over this past year.
What remains to be seen is if the club will hire a head coach who can get the most out of Santi by further developing his abilities, and finding a lineup that plays to his strengths. When he returned to New York City, Rodríguez took the #10 jersey but he's not a natural No 10 on the field — he's less a playmaker like Maxi Moralez than an attacking midfielder who makes runs into the box. Whomever the club hires to lead the team will need to help him further hone his game, then put together a Starting XI that lets Santi do Santi things.
If that happens, we can expect to see big things from Rodríguez next year. Until then, we're giving him a grade that reflects what he accomplished in 2024, and what was left undone.
