Pedro Morales seems to have found his place in the MLS.
After playing for sides like Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, Malaga in Spain and the Chilean National Team on a few occasions, several experts were pretty quick to discard the 30-year-old playmaker saying he would never reach his potential. He was always full of talent, but at the same time, he never exploded like the managers or the Chilean fans expected him to do so.
Morales fell out of favour in Spain and signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps ahead of the 2014 season. He quickly became one of the league’s top players and was rewarded at the end of the campaign with several accolades: he was named as the team’s top player and top scorer while also getting the MLS Latin Player of the Year and the MLS Newcomer of the Year Awards. He netted 11 goals in 35 appearances across all competitions.
He battled with several injuries in 2015 and wasn’t able to repeat the level he showed one year ago but he still made his presence felt when he was on the pitch, finishing with eight goals in 29 contests.
His numbers this season have been pretty good with four goals in equal number of matches, although all of his scores have come from the penalty spot. Morales, however, has done more than netting penalties at an impressive rate; he’s also the team’s main playmaker in midfield and the one who takes charge of most set-piece situations. To make things even better he’s currently the league’s top scorer.
Overall Morales has played 60 games for the Whitecaps and his numbers are pretty impressive: 20 goals and 15 assists while playing behind the attackers. He’s an absolute idol for the Whitecaps’ fan-base and the marketing has done a good job to exploit that: he has a Lego action figure, and he also appeared on the FIFA 15 cover that was sold in Canada.
He might not reach the stature of Kaka’, Sebastian Giovinco or even local idols such as Jozy Altidore or Michael Bradley but one thing is certain: Morales has been one of the league’s most effective midfielders over the past two years and he’s quickly becoming one of the most underrated players not only in the Western Conference, but in the MLS as a whole.