Finalists have been unveiled for next month's ESPY Awards, an Oscars-style event that ESPN has put on since 1993, including the four men in the running for Best MLS player.
Considering that the ESPY's occur in the middle of the MLS season, meaning the award is given based primarily on accomplishments from the previous MLS season, the list of finalists should be no surprise.
- Tim Melia (Winner, 2017 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year)
- Nemanja Nikolic (Winner, 2017 MLS Golden Boot)
- Ike Opara (Winner, 2017 MLS Defender of the Year)
- Diego Valeri (Winner, 2017 Landon Donovan MLS MVP)
The award has been given at the ESPYs since 2006, and is guaranteed to have a new winner since active winners Sebastian Giovinco and David Villa were not nominated.
The previous year's MLS MVP has gone on to win the following year's ESPY in the last previous seasons. Prior to that, however, an MLS MVP had only snagged the next ESPY once, when Landon Donovan did the individual double with the 2009 MVP and 2010 ESPY.
Want to have your say over who takes this year's ESPY? You can vote online for Best MLS Player, Best NWSL Player, Best Men's and Women's International Players and the rest of the categories.
