Sporting KC: Why doesn’t Daniel Salloi receive more national attention?

A quick Google search of Daniel Salloi will show that the leading goal-scorer for Sporting KC receives little media attention outside of the Kansas City area, despite having an incredible breakout year on a contending team.

National media coverage will occasionally mention the Sporting KC forward’s recent success in passing; but generally, Daniel Salloi’s impressive 2018 season—boasting 14 overall goals and 7 overall assists and leading all MLS Homegrown players in total combined goals and assists this season—went largely unnoticed outside of KC.

Salloi had a forgettable rookie season, scoring just three goals and playing like how one would expect an average rookie to play. However, the second-year striker entered the 2018 season as a diverse attacking threat who played with skill that conveyed experience beyond his 22 years.

The SKC Golden Boot winner scored three goals in the 2018 playoffs and became the first Homegrown player in MLS history to score twice in a playoff game but has yet to be recognized as a league-wide superstar.

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Players relatively similar to Salloi in their age, production, or being Homegrown received much more national media attention, though many had far less news-worthy seasons. I feel that this is for two main reasons: nationality and price.

Vancouver Whitecaps’ Alphonso Davies, another second-year Homegrown winger, was all over national soccer news last season despite scoring less than two-thirds of the number of goals that Salloi scored. (The Whitecaps also had a much less notable season than SKC.) New York Red Bulls’ young Homegrown midfielder Tyler Adams also received much of the national coverage that perhaps should have been shared with Salloi.

Davies and Adams are Canadian and American, respectively, in a league based in the U.S. and Canada. Salloi, though technically Homegrown, is Hungarian—an outsider in a North American league.

Ezequiel Barco, Alberth Elis, and Diego Rossi are all similar in age and level of play to Salloi but received significantly more media attention—likely due to the fact that they were brought into their respective clubs for high prices. The price tag automatically draws attention to these players, whereas Salloi, whose salary was a measly $81,625 in 2018, continues to fly under the radar.

The third reason for this flying under the radar could perhaps be that Salloi fell into a scoreless rut and was benched for a few games in the late summer. Peter Vermes told MLSSoccer.com that this decision was “not a decision based on play,” but rather just to give the young striker “a little bit of a break” and “reset” him.

Salloi clearly responded well, as he came back to start the final four matches of the regular season and scored four goals, as well as leading the team in scoring throughout the playoffs. However, it is possible that this slump in the season and short time on the bench caused MLS observers and media to divert their attention away from Salloi.

Whether any of those three possible suggested reasons are correct or not, Salloi has had an incredible year on a record-setting offensive season for Sporting Kansas City that deserves to be nationally recognized. Perhaps 2019 will have a different storyline regarding this topic.