Contract until December 2022
The German MLS professional Hany Mukhtar can well imagine a return to his youth club Hertha BSC. “Hertha is my home club. When they call, it’s an affair of the heart. But they haven’t called yet,” said the 26-year-old of the German Press Agency before the start of the Major League Soccer season at the weekend.
Mukhtar was trained in the Hertha youth, second division champions with the capital club and went to Benfica Lisbon in early 2015 for 500.00 euros. Since then he has won titles in Portugal, Austria and Denmark and has been the central and most valuable professional at Nashville SC for the past two years. Last season, he recorded 19 goals and 10 assists in 33 games and finished second in the league’s Most Valuable Player poll. The attacking player sees potential in himself for the big European leagues, but doesn’t feel any pressure.
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“Does it have to be? No, I feel good here. I can continue my career here too, I have no problem with that at all. But I’m convinced that I can definitely play in the big leagues,” said Mukhtar, who was born in Berlin and has a contract until December 2022. “Many say it’s a boring league and a league for older people. I don’t see it that way, I can also develop further here. I take it seriously here, I want to get better, I also want to achieve something with the team.”
The fact that he is not so well known in Germany does not bother Mukhtar. “It’s not that bad for me. I enjoy life here, it’s really nice. I’m living my dream, I’m playing soccer in America. Not many can say that about themselves.” Mukhtar is the player in Nashville around whom they have been building the team for the past two years, benefiting from a special role that was once introduced for Beckham.
Mukhtar holds “Designated Player” status – pay gap “not a big issue”
As a so-called “designated player,” his salary is only a small part of the cap that each team has to meet, which is around five million dollars. Each team can have a maximum of three professionals in the squad, who earn significantly more than the other players. For Mukhtar, that was $1.505 million last season – five of his mostly younger teammates, on the other hand, only got the $63,547 minimum wage. “It’s not a big issue for us in training or in the dressing room. At the end of the day it’s an honor and you try to live up to the honor.”
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