Luciano Acosta was having a fine season in the first half of 2018 before the arrival of Wayne Rooney. The Argentine playmaker had just one goal to his name, a late equalizer against the Houston Dynamo in March. His tally of seven assists was more in line with what was expected of him. There were highs and lows for Acosta in the first four months of MLS play, but the 24-year-old was having a solid if not spectacular third season in the league.

Then Rooney came along, and Lucho’s season took off. In the 20 games after the English superstar arrived stateside, Acosta scored nine goals and added 10 assists. In a matter of months, Acosta went from having an average season by his lofty standards to being named to the MLS Best XI for 2018 after winning Player of the Month for September. 

Now Acosta is back with United for the start of the 2019 season, but only just. There were several transfer offers for Lucho, most notably from French champions Paris Saint-Germain. That deal didn’t pan out during Europe’s final day of the transfer window, leaving United’s No. 10 to come back to D.C.

Acosta is in the final year of his current deal with the Black-and-Red. United apparently are willing to offer Lucho a huge deal to make him a designated player. But there are plenty of different scenarios that could play out over the course of the year, determining where Acosta will be playing in 2020. 

Here’s the question this week: Will Luciano Acosta make the MLS Best XI in 2019?

Steven Streff, FloFC D.C. United Beat Writer: If Acosta can post similar numbers to what he put up last year, then there’s no reason why he can’t once again be honored by the league at the end of the season. Double digits in both goals and assists will usually put a player in the conversation, and there’s little evidence to show right now that a healthy Wayne and Lucho can’t replicate what they did in 20 games in 2018.

A big factor in this equation to me is whether or not Acosta sticks around for the entire season. From everything we’ve seen this preseason, Acosta hasn’t been hung up on not moving to PSG. He scored against FC Cincinnati and delivered the assists against the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Philadelphia Union, picking right up where he left off in 2018.

But he’s also in the last year of his contract, and could walk away for free at the end of the year. United are trying to avoid that, and will likely do anything in their power to get Acosta to agree to a new deal. If they can’t do that though, it’s possible that they allow Acosta to move in the summer, just to recoup some money from a transfer. 

And even if Lucho does sign a new long-term deal, there are no guarantees that he would stay past the summer anyway. It’s possible to imagine a scenario in which Acosta signs a new deal worth millions, plays lights out from March to June, and then gets sold for more than what PSG offered in January.

All that said, I think Acosta stays with United for the entirety of the 2019 campaign. Whether or not he ends up on the Best XI again isn’t completely up to him, as there are so many other good players in MLS that could make the team over him. I expect, however, that over the course of 34 games, Acosta will once again hit double digits in both goals and assists, and be part of the conversation as one of the best 11 players in the league in 2019. 

Hunter Sharpless, FloFC Managing Editor: After snooping around a few D.C. United practices I can give you this exclusive, behind-the-scenes FloFC report on Lucho: He is very good. 

But in all seriousness, nobody on the team quite moves with the agility, flair, and sheer chocolate silkiness that Lucho does. And that’s not a knock on the rest of the guys. Russell Canouse is incredibly skilled with the ball at his feet, Rooney is obviously a pretty good footballer, and I’ve seen Chris Durkin launching balls across the field like he’s en route to being Paul Pogba, but Acosta brings a dynamism that nobody else does.

My answer in last week’s round table plays into why I think the answer will be yes to this week’s question. To me, the ideal Rooney for Ben Olsen and co. is a playmaking hell-raiser, and Lucho, like we saw last year, will be the most immediate recipient of that flurry of activity. 

Acosta possesses the talent, the drive, and the surrounding pieces to have a hell of a season for the Black-and-Red. The one question, like Streff points out, is how long his tenure will last in D.C.

Wesley Davidson, FloFC Contributor: Making the MLS Best XI in consecutive years is no easy feat. In the past three years, only Miguel Almiron, Josef Martinez, David Villa, and Sebastian Giovinco have been able to pull it off, and their talents speak for themselves. There are a host of factors — injuries, changes in tactics, new signings, to name a few — that affect whether or not a player can fully replicate previous output.

There’s no question that Lucho Acosta is right up at the top of the league in terms of ability and production. Last night’s game against Philly gave us another chance to witness Acosta’s tremendous vision and passing prowess with his cutting through ball to Rooney from the halfway line. 

As I alluded to in a previous roundtable, any lower numbers from Rooney and/or Acosta this year will largely be due to the wealth of talents around them and their progression, helping the Black-and-Red become even more balanced this year. It appears Paul Arriola has really come into his own, and I think he could very well take his numbers to double digits this time around, up from his seven goals and eight assists in 2018.

There’s also the addition of Lucas Rodriguez. We haven’t got to see much of Titi just yet, but once he settles in I see him further taking the load off Acosta and Rooney and really putting his stamp on the league. 

Acosta continues his stellar form in 2019 and certainly has a point to prove after the failed move to France. It’s always going to be a question of whether he stays or goes over the summer. Even if he stays put in the capital through November, I think he falls just short of making the Best XI.