The Union’s best creator of scoring chances this year is a left back. Yes, really.

Kai Wagner has created almost twice as many scoring chances this year as any of his teammates. That's a rare feat for a player at his position.

Kai Wagner pursues the ball during the Union's 4-1 win over Atlanta United on Wednesday at Subaru Park.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published Sept. 1, 2022, 6:00 p.m. ET

After Kai Wagner’s latest stellar performance for the Union, manager Jim Curtin had a polite request.

“Let’s not talk about Kai until the second of September,” he asked Wednesday night, so that he might not create an international incident on the eve of Europe’s transfer deadline.

But that resistance only lasted a few seconds.

“He’s the best left back that we have in MLS, and we’re lucky to have him here in Philly,” Curtin said. “[He] continues to get better and better as the season goes. … When there’s constant noise in and around, transfers and this and that, to be as professional as he’s been and just put his head down and play is not easy to do, and he’s done a great job of that.”

Curtin can breathe easier now. The gavel came down on the deadline Thursday evening, and Wagner is still here. As expected, no one swept in with a last-minute offer too big to refuse.

Now the Union know they will have Wagner here for the rest of the year. Perhaps not more than that, and really, probably not more. With five games left in the regular season and up to four in the playoffs, Union fans will treasure what time they have left to watch him.

But for anyone out there wondering why there’s so much attention on a left back, consider a statistic in which Wagner’s contributions are just about mind-blowing.

Data from the league’s official statistician Opta show that Wagner is the Union’s leader in chances created this year, with 72 in 29 games.

It’s unconventional, to say the least, for a left back to lead a team in scoring-chance creation — and Wagner leads by an extraordinary margin. After his 72, Dániel Gazdag is second with 39, Alejandro Bedoya is third with 38, and Cory Burke and Julián Carranza are tied in fourth with 16.

Yes, you read that right. A left back has created nearly twice as many scoring chances as anyone else on the roster.

There is an important caveat: Wagner is the Union’s main corner kick and free kick taker. Forty-three of his chances created come from set pieces. But his 29 chances created from open play would still rank No. 3 on the team, and he’s tied for the assists lead with Bedoya at six.

Even when you combine starters at other positions on the field, they don’t come close. Right backs Olivier Mbaizo and Nathan Harriel have created 20 chances, 13 and 7 respectively. Central midfielders Leon Flach and Jack McGlynn have produced 22 from the left side of the diamond, 14 and 8 respectively.

As for the strikers, it’s not an indictment that they’re so far down the list. After Burke and Carranza, Mikael Uhre ranks eighth with 12. Their job is to finish chances created for them, which they are clearly doing. Creating chances for others is a nice bonus (and in Burke’s case, a bonus that deserves more recognition than he’s had this year).

Uhre was asked Wednesday if he’d ever seen a left back like Wagner.

“I don’t think so, no,” he answered. “He’s unbelievable. He’s doing his job; he’s showing up, he’s also making recovery sprints in the 88th minute to make sure we don’t concede one more. He’s a really good player, and I really enjoy playing with him.”

The strikers also know that Wagner leads the Union in passes into the final third of the field with a whopping 247. José Andrés Martínez ranks second with 199, Jakob Glesnes is third with 147, and four other players have over 100.

“In the system that we play, you really need your fullbacks to get forward, and he is doing exactly that,” goalkeeper Andre Blake said of Wagner. “He’s got a great left foot, whipping in those crosses, and he does his job very well getting forward. But not just getting forward, but also being that anchor in the back line that’s been so good all year.”

Centerback Jack Elliott has another front-row seat to Wagner’s forays, and to how the rest of the defense adjusts when he goes forward.

“We all know each other pretty well now,” Elliott said. “It’s pretty natural for us to play together. All of us, I think we all know what page we’re on. When he defends, he defends hard, and when he attacks, he attacks hard too.”

And like his teammates, Elliott knows how unique Wagner’s talents are.

“You don’t really see players from left back doing what he does,” Elliott said. “Usually they play for Man City.”

One might play for Leeds United in a few months, too, albeit in a different style from Manchester City’s famously intricate possession game.

But for now, Wagner is still with the Union, and his teammates know how fortunate they are.