At its core, MLS’s annual “22-Under-22” list is more of a marketing exercise than a formal award. But it is a good-faith exercise by the league’s CSO’s, some of its top editorial talent and select journalists to identify the league’s best young players.
That Obed Vargas finished atop the list this year is certainly a notable accomplishment that deserves some degree of celebration. It’s the third time a Seattle Sounders player has topped the list — he joins Fredy Montero (2010) and DeAndre Yedlin (2014) when it was actually “24-Under-24” — and is the first MLS academy product to claim the honor since Jesús Ferreira in 2022.
Vargas’ recognition belongs as much to him as to the club as a whole.
“I think it’s a good reassurance of all the work that goes into the academy,” Sounders Technical Director Henry Brauner said. “Every dollar the club put into the development side, that’s just future investment in the first team. Now you’re seeing that investment that was made years ago starting to come to fruition and we’re thankful for that.”
Vargas is a shining example of what can happen when a club invests in youth and is patient enough to allow them to develop.
The 20-year-old first joined the Sounders Academy as a 14-year-old, moving by himself from Alaska and taking advantage of the club’s home-stay program. By the time he was 15, he had already signed his first professional contract with Tacoma Defiance and he made his MLS debut just shy of his 16th birthday. The following season, he played a significant role in helping the Sounders win Concacaf Champions League, but he ended up missing more than half the year with a back injury. It wasn’t really until 2024 that Vargas firmly re-established himself as a starter and the Sounders have been willing to ride his peaks and valleys long enough for them to settle in reliably high-quality performances.
“Even if it’s not his best day, even if it’s not the top-end performance that we know he’s capable of giving, we’re going to get this high standard from him,” Brauner said. “And then he’s going to have those spikes where it’s like, ‘wow, this is why he just won this award.’”
Aside from helping the first team win games, the Sounders are also looking to their academy to help them produce some transfer fees. Most observers think Vargas will be the player who sets the bar for that.
Teams in Mexico have reportedly already made it known that they’re willing to pay as much as $10 million to sign Vargas, and more recently there have been reports of interest from European teams like PSV Eindhoven and Club Brugge.
While this honor probably won’t do much to change Vargas’ value, it is notable that the last 11 players who were placed atop this list have generated more than $100 million in transfer fees for their MLS clubs.
Wherever Vargas ends up, it’s become clear he has the tools to succeed.
“We talk about learning capacity as one of the most important traits within a young player,” Brauner said. “How long does it take them to take on information? How long does it to them to be able to execute what we’re asking.
“For Obed, knowing that we’ve been able to provide that environment, with the resources that we have, when he’s ready to take the next step, he’s going to take the next step. From there, he’s going to be just fine.”
