Hany Mukhtar has plenty of skills, but interior design? Not his forte. The German midfielder is one of the best players in MLS and, if 2022 was any indication, he might just be the best. Few players in MLS history have been as good at creating goals or have been as vital to their team's success.
Dribbling, passing, scoring, shooting, leading, winning... Mukhtar does it all. But then he goes home where, funnily enough, he has a little bit less influence than he does on the field with Nashville SC.
When it comes to decorating, the responsibility lies with his fiancé, Ashley. She's the one in charge of styling their Nashville home and Mukhtar is more than willing to let her take the lead. He's the MLS superstar, she's the designer. It all works out.
But there is one thing, one statement piece, that Mukhtar insisted on displaying: his 2022 MLS MVP trophy. Just this once, Mukhtar wanted a say. Ashley can have the rest of the house, but when it comes to displaying his award, he demanded a place of prominence.
"I put my MVP trophy in the living room," he tells GOAL with a laugh. "Everyone who comes in sees it. I told my fiancé, 'Listen,I know you do the interior design here and it all looks amazing, but this trophy needs a special place'."
A special place for a special trophy, of course, so Ashley was more than willing to accommodate. It's quite a statement piece, after all. Few homes have an MVP trophy to show off.
But, for Mukhtar, that MVP award was about so much more than a trophy; it was about the validation he'd been craving for years as he's looked to prove that he is, in fact, a superstar worth mentioning with the best this league has to offer.
In Mukhtar's mind, he'd long gone under the radar and, to his credit, he's probably right. In a league so often focused on familiar international superstars or multimillion-dollar South American prodigies, it's a 27-year-old German that joined from the Danish league that might just be the best player in MLS.
Since arriving in MLS in 2020, Mukhtar has scored 43 goals and provided 27 assists in just 79 total appearances. But, until midway through last season, it's fair to say that there were few that would put him in the conversation when discussing the league's handful of elite talents.
But that was before the 27-year-old went supernova throughout the 2022 season. He finished with 23 goals and 11 assists, contributing to 34 of Nashville's 52 goals. It's an otherworldly return, one that shows that there probably isn't a player more important to their team than Mukhtar is to Nashville.
That's why he earned the MVP trophy, winning the award in a landslide vote while also claiming the Golden Boot, solidifying his status as a legitimate superstar in the process.
"Sometimes maybe I was a player who got overlooked," he says, "but I learned throughout my career that you cannot concentrate on it and it's not important what other people think. You have to concentrate on your performance, focus on what you can influence and I think I showed that I'm really focused on what I can influence.
"If someone says I'm not an MVP candidate, it doesn't change my life now. I think I just have to do the best I can work hard and the rest that depends on other people, if they vote for me or not, I can just perform on the field."
Mukhtar, in many ways, is the perfect example of what happens when the right player finds the right club, with both the reigning MVP and Nashville reaping the rewards of what has, so far, been a fantastic partnership.
Nashville, now heading into their fourth MLS season, are among the best teams in MLS. Led by Mukhtar and former MLS Defender of the Year Walker Zimmerman, the Coyotes will expect to be a playoff team once again in 2023, and perhaps even take it a step further and truly push for an MLS Cup. With Mukhtar, it's certainly possible, simply because he can win you just about any game all on his own.
He did so plenty of times last season, He contributed to 65.4 percent of Nashville's goals in 2022, a staggering amount. He recorded 21 goals and seven assists in his final 22 games. In August, he was basically unstoppable, contributing to 12 goals in the month. It's hard to explain just how much Mukhtar means to Nashville on the field, and that's not even getting into what he's done off of it.
Since the club's inception, Mukhtar has been the face of the franchise. He's been the club's star, but also been a part of growing the game in the city, laying on clinics and camps for kids throughout the area. For Mukhtar, though, playing in Nashville has been life-changing as well. For years, he was a player in search of a home.
After coming up through Hertha Berlin's academy, Mukhtar made his debut for the German side during the 2012-13 season, becoming the second-youngest player in the club's history. In January 2015, he moved to Portuguese giants Benfica, seemingly taking a big step in his career by joining up with one of Europe's elite talent developers.
It didn't work out. He struggled to break through in Portugal, going out on loan to Red Bull Salzburg and Brondby before, ultimately, signing permanently with the latter. And, during his time in Denmark, Mukhtar looked like a hell of a player, but few could have predicted he'd blossom into the player he is now.
Count Mukhtar among those that are surprised. He began his career as a central midfielder, a player that looked to move on the play rather than take the game over. But, upon arriving in Nashville, he was asked to play as more of a No.10 or second striker.
Mukhtar recalls a few hiccups early in his time in MLS. He remembers attempting to drop deep to get the ball from the centerbacks, and recalls being promptly told off by Nashville's coaching staff. He did that at other clubs before, but not here. Nashville needed more from him.
And Mukhtar, in response, has given Nashville exactly what they needed while also finding a club that gave him the freedom and comfort he had been searching for most of his career.
"Maybe I took some transfers or some decisions in the earlier stages of my career too early," he says, "like I wasn't patient enough. Now 10 years into a professional career, now, I would think like 500 times before I make the next step because I appreciate and I know exactly what I have here, you know? You have to be 1,000 percent sure that that's the right fit and right move for you.
"I'm happy right now where I am. But you know football. With the industry, you never know and it can change very quickly. From my experience, that's why you have to live in the moment you have to appreciate that and right now I'm very happy."
So, with a smile on his face and still with a slight chip on his shoulder, Mukhtar heads into the 2023 campaign hoping to push Nashville one step further. He's conquered MLS' individual awards, but now his sights are set on something a bit bigger.
Legacies, after all, are defined by club success, and Mukhtar is now hoping to add that to his resume in 2023. Over his first three seasons, Mukhtar has accomplished plenty, but he knows there's more to be done.
"If I'd have written a book three years ago, I would probably write it exactly like it happened," he says, "except like maybe winning the [MLS Cup] trophy. It's a good story."
It's a story still being written as the new season looms. Nashville will need more goals and assists from him, perhaps even more than last year. At age 27, Mukhtar can still take his game to another level as he continues to evolve into a dominant attacking player that certainly didn't exist just a few short years ago.
And, if that does happen, if Mukhtar continues to raise the bar, there may be more trophies to put on display in the living room in the years to come.