It shouldn’t come as a surprise to see the name atop the race for MLS’ Golden Boot as the league’s leading scorer: Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi.
But two goals shy of the global icon is Lewis Morgan, star forward for the upstart Red Bulls.
While Morgan, who had been the team’s leading scorer in 2022, knows a thing or two about finding the back of the net, his ascension as one of MLS’ top scorers is astonishing considering the injuries he suffered last season.
Through the first 10 games of 2024, Morgan has notched seven goals and two assists, putting him behind just Messi (nine), Real Salt Lake’s Cristian Arango (eight) and DC United’s Christian Benteke (eight) for most in the league.
And the Scottish footballer’s goal-scoring prowess has been clutch, with his goal in the 56th minute against the Vancouver Whitecaps last weekend leading to a 1-1 draw that extended the third-place Red Bulls’ unbeaten streak to six.
“For me, normally I’m one of these guys that sets really lofty ambitions for myself,” Morgan told The Post following a recent practice. “But coming into [this season], it was really about just, especially this early part of the season, I just wanted to be fit and be playing and be contributing however that was going to be. There’s always a little bit of an unknown when you’ve been out so long, how that adaptation is going to go. … It’s definitely surpassed what I expected of myself just because it was such a serious injury last year.”
Morgan was referring to a nagging hip injury — eventually discovered to be a tear of the psoas muscle — that had stemmed from an injury at the end of the 2022 season and plagued him into 2023, when he was limited to just six total matches between MLS regular-season and Leagues Cup matches.
Morgan, 27, had avoided major injuries during his decade-long soccer career, which has included stops with Celtic FC in Scotland and lower-tier Sunderland in England, and last season’s predicament made him feel “like a fraud” because he couldn’t contribute to his team.
This season, it’s safe to say that feeling has gone away.
“Lewis has been killing it and he’s been killing it in practice and in preseason as well,” Red Bulls defender Sean Nealis said. “I think we’re seeing the results on the field on game day. … It’s a huge plus to have him back. A couple of games he’s scored these goals that last year they might have been one point where this year it’s three points.”
While Morgan has flourished in his recovery from hip surgery in September — the focus of a team-produced documentary released this week — he admitted he had to tackle the fear of re-injury.
“It’s more like maybe the first time I was back on the grass there probably would have been a bit of hesitation,” Morgan said.
“By the time you get to the game, you check everything off. Maybe the last thing is that real 100 percent game contact and once you get a couple of them and you realize you know what, like I’m ready. Then it goes out of your mind. I don’t have any hesitations when I go on the pitch anymore.”
The Red Bulls are back on the road Saturday to face Inter Miami after having decimated a Messi-less roster in a 4-0 win at Red Bull Arena in March — punctuated by Morgan’s hat trick.
But Messi is expected to be on the pitch in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as the Red Bulls (4-1-5) look to make up ground on Eastern Conference-leading Inter Miami (6-2-3) and try to repeat some of that success they had back in March.
“So I missed a lot of that opportunity last year [to contribute], but this year, so far, we’ve been able to get over the injury stuff and now I’m contributing and you feel like you’re doing what you should be doing,” Morgan said.