Real Salt Lake star, USMNT prospect Diego Luna wins MLS Young Player of the Year

Diego Luna developed into a star for Real Salt Lake this season and his impressive campaign was rewarded by being named Major League Soccer's Young Player of the Year.

The league announced Luna's award on Thursday, highlighting a strong season from the 21-year-old contributed to 20 goal contributions, scoring eight and assisting 12, joining only Diego Rossi to become the second player in league history to hit that mark before 21. In addition, Luna was the youngest member of the MLS All-Star team this summer.

In total, Luna ended up with 35.66 percent of the vote, narrowly edging out second-place finisher Diego Gomez from Inter Miami, who garnered 33.21 percent. LAFC's Cristian Olivera finished third with 5.55 percent.

A dynamic creative midfielder, Luna could wind up being a U.S. men's national team contributor in the years to come. He earned his first USMNT cap during the 2024 January camp, but declined an offer to be an alternate for the U.S. U-23s at the Summer Olympics in Paris. Luna is also eligible to represent Mexico and could file a one-time switch to play for El Tri.

Thus far, Luna has played 76 MLS matches, scoring 15 goals, with all of those goals coming over the last two seasons.

Luna joins some illustrious company as winner of MLS Young Player of the Year, which was rebranded from MLS Rookie of the Year in 2020. Rossi won that inaugural award before FC Dallas stars took home back-to-back trophies with Ricardo Pepi and Jesus Ferreira in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Argentina World Cup winner and ex-Atlanta United star Thiago Almada won the award in 2023.

Real Salt Lake's MLS season is over following the club's first-round MLS Playoff exit at the hands of Minnesota United, who won both matches in penalty kick shootouts. Luna will look ahead to a potential January Camp call-up under new USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino.