MONTREAL - The Montreal Impact announced on Wednesday that Italian forward Marco Di Vaio has been selected as the team’s 2013 Most Valuable Player.
The Giuseppe Saputo Trophy, awarded to the player who most contributed to the team’s success, was voted on by the club’s members.
In his second season in MLS, Di Vaio led the Impact and finished third in the league in scoring with 20 goals in 33 games played, 31 as a starter, for a total of 2,746 minutes. He became just the 11th player in league history to reach the 20 goal plateau in a single season this year and five of his markers were game winners.
Of the top three marksmen in MLS, he’s the only striker to score all of his 20 goals from the run of play (no PK or free-kicks). He added two goals and two assists in three Canadian Championship games and played in two CONCACAF Champions League matches.
Di Vaio, who had four multiple goal games this season, was one of just seven players to have recorded a hat trick this season, on May 25 against the Philadelphia Union, which earned him MLS Player of the Week for Week 28.
He also took part in the MLS All-Star Game against AS Roma, was selected seven times to the MLSSoccer.com Team of the Week and was chosen by the fans as the Videotron Player of the Game on eight different occasions in 2013.
On October 15, the Impact announced that the club will exercise its contract option on Di Vaio and that the Italian forward has agreed to return with the club in 2014.
The four other nominees as voted by the supporters were goalkeeper Troy Perkins, defender Hassoun Camara, as well as midfielders Patrice Bernier and Justin Mapp.
