Kai Wagner is having another great season, but it could be his last with the Union

Wagner leads the team in scoring chances created for the second straight year. His contract is up at the end of the season, and his future is uncertain.

Kai Wagner is one of the Union's most important players.Read moreMatt Slocum / AP

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published Jun. 9, 2023, 8:31 a.m. ET

For the second year in a row, the Union’s best chance creator isn’t a midfielder or a forward. And this time, it’s less of a surprise.

Left back Kai Wagner is on a terrific run of form, and has been as big a part of the team’s nine-game MLS unbeaten streak as anyone. The 26-year-old German has delivered 27 chance-creating passes in 13 MLS games, and the total would be higher if he hadn’t missed three games in April with a hamstring strain.

Wagner’s stats are down a little bit from last year, 2.1 chances created per game instead of 2.4. In terms of total chances created, he delivered a whopping 88 to Dániel Gazdag’s 52 and Alejandro Bedoya’s 38.

This year, the table is closer: 27 for Wagner, 24 for Gazdag, and 20 for Bedoya. In a way, that’s a compliment to the Union’s new tactical diversity, because it means the ball is getting to more players in dangerous attacking positions. But it’s also because Wagner now shares corner-kick and free-kick duties with Jack McGlynn.

A chance-creating pass doesn’t have to result in a goal to count. An assist does, and Wagner only has one of those in 19 games across all competitions this year. He’d like to have more. Last season, he had eight in league play.

Working to get even better

Wagner admitted in jest that he has been “talking to the forwards a little bit to just, maybe, finish a chance for me because then my stats [would] be going up.”

But he turned more serious when he said the Union “haven’t finished a set piece yet.”

The official stats say that isn’t quite true, but the subject is somewhat philosophical. There’s no formal rule that says a free kick sequence becomes open play after a certain number of passes.

So let’s leave it at this: Wagner is right that the Union haven’t been as good at set pieces this year as they could be, and he’s trying to help them improve.

“I try to get better every day and watch a lot of videos with our assistant Frank [Leicht, the Union staff’s set-piece specialist], where we can be better, where the [18-yard] boxes are open,” he said.

Wagner has liked the Union’s recent implementation of a 3-5-2 formation, and not just because he has less defensive responsibility in it.

“I stay higher [in a 3-5-2]. I can go for some crosses and stuff like this, but I also can put pressure” on opposing players, he said. “We’re doing a pretty good job at the moment, especially with different formations, where we adapt really, really well and really move fast. And also, without Ale [Bedoya] at the moment, everybody has to step up a little bit more, because we are without our captain.”

Contract clock ticking

There’s only one piece missing from the picture right now. Wagner’s contract is up after this year, and it’s not clear whether he’ll get a new one. Europe’s summer transfer market has just opened, and offers may start coming in as they have over the last few years.

Nothing seems imminent, either in terms of foreign interest or a new deal from the Union. When Wagner was asked about it this week, he demurred.

“I’m relaxed about myself. I just try to be the best version of myself,” he said. “I’ll enjoy my last year here [of the current contract] and then we will see what’s happening next year.”

Whoever else is or isn’t watching Wagner, Union manager Jim Curtin made it clear that he’s paying attention.

“He’s had the disappointment, frustration, whatever you’d like to call it, of some transfers being close but not quite happening,” Curtin said, referring to potential past moves to England’s West Ham and Leeds United. “A lot of times, you see guys get disgruntled or put their head down or be unprofessional. But, man, I mean, he has brought it even more this season.”

And while Curtin is realistic about the potential of Wagner leaving, he wouldn’t mind him staying.

“A top defender, one of my favorite players I’ve worked with here, a huge part of our success and that cohesiveness along our back line ,” he said. “He’s given everything for Philadelphia, he’s a winner, and he’s been a big part of our success through the years. Certainly, I know there’s decisions that are going to get made in the coming weeks and months and days, but I hope he wears this badge for a long time.”