Owen Wolff is Making the Leap, and we have the data to prove it

When Owen Wolff led Osman Bukari to goal with a perfectly-weighted pass, orchestrating the opening goal in Austin FC's 3-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night, he did more than just guarantee he'd have a moment from this match on his 2025 highlight reel.

For the first time in his MLS career, he reached the double-digit goal contribution mark.

With four goals and six assists on the season, and seven matches still to go, the 20-year-old midfielder is mounting the best single season of his career. While he's still something of a Swiss Army knife in Verde's lineup — sometimes an attacking midfielder, sometimes a left winger, but arguably best as a central midfielder — Wolff is transforming from a utility player nearly as likely to sub as to start to an inked-in starter central to his team's success.

Consider that last year, Wolff appeared in 33 matches but only started in 17 of them. Compare that with this year, where he has appeared in every regular-season match so far, starting 25 of the 27.

Also consider that with seven matches to go, he's bested his minutes total by a substantial margin, surpassing the 2000-minute mark for the first time in his career.

And on Tuesday afternoon, Wolff was named to the MLS Team of the Week for his performance — the fifth time he's done so this season, topping all Verde players.

And it's not just that he's getting minutes — it's what he's doing with them.

What the charts say

First of all, it's perhaps telling that FBref – a source I use quite a bit to gather performance charts – only lists Wolff as a midfielder this year, whereas last year, he logged enough time as an attacking midfielder/winger to register a chart in that category.

Here's where his stats place him compared to other midfielders over the last 365 days (so, counting the tail end of last season) — it's a pool that includes MLS, Liga MX, and leagues and competitions on par with MLS.

And now, here's just 2025:

And here's what 2025 Wolff (in red) looks like compared to 2024 Wolff.

Right away, aside from a dip in clearances – which owes some to Wolff being deployed a little farther back, as in fullback, during some points of last season – he's showing improvement in most metrics. Pass completion percentage being down is likely attributable to — to use the technical term here — trying more shit, but look how much more he's excelled in successful take-ons, progressive carries, and a quintet of key offensive categories.

Still, though, can he be a 10?

While he hasn't played enough as an attacking midfielder or winger this season to pull together a spider graph in that position for this season, he does have one combining this year and last year.

This is where it gets a little weird and a little concerning. Lumping the last part of 2024 and this season together, which is not quite apples to apples, he's got some pretty middle-tier attacking numbers compared to the more forward-positioned players, but great defensive numbers and improved passing acumen.

That's interesting in the context of determining whether he can be a 10, should play as a winger and be a wide playmaker (and scorer), or stay as a central midfielder who is box-to-box-plus but not as consistently far forward as a 10 would be.

Against San Jose, one post-match item from Catalina Bush's grab bag of graphics stood out to me — in a game that was more even in stats than I expected given the optics.

The numbers on the left correspond to the player number, and the larger the segment, the more passes into the final third that player has. Wolff slightly bested Guilherme Biro for most passes into the final third; while they're not quite the key passes that 10s specialize in, they're important for getting attacks to manifest, especially playing in transition — which is something I'll argue Verde did well against the Quakes.

Wolff, per FotMob, led Verde in that match with three chances created (including his team's only big chance created), 56 touches[[1]], and though I know people have issues with these ratings for good reason, an 8.24 rating on FotMob.

American Soccer Analysis' goals added liked Wolff as well (though Myrto Uzuni was weirdly low for a goalscorer, though his role in defense on the Quakes' lone goal might have contributed).

What's next for Wolff?

We know that, with nothing happening in the summer transfer window regarding him (or at all), Wolff's next chance to spread his wings and fly to Europe will come in January, once he's 21.

Perhaps there will be answers forthcoming at Rodolfo Borrell's press conference, but given how negotiations typically go, perhaps not, and we'll just get some general platitudes.

We are approaching an interesting juncture in Wolff's career; he could either continue to grow with the team he started with and perhaps reach MLS All-Star status, or he could venture overseas and see where that takes him. (Given the trajectory of American players recently, England's Championship or the Netherlands' top-tier Eredivisie league could be destinations.)

At the end of last season, Borrell praised Wolff as one of the team's best young players as he was awarded a contract keeping him in Verde until the end of the 2027 season, with an option for 2028. At the time, we thought it optimistic of the club to think he'd be there that long, given the European aspirations he's voiced.

That seems even more optimistic now. And yet, Wolff leaving after this season puts a hole in the team that wasn't there last season. That's a testament to how well he's developed, but also a bit eyebrow-raising, given the significant spend on players in this offseason, how much more outsized a single 20-year-old player on the rise's contributions have been.

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[[1]]: Behind five Quakes players, though, but four of those were defenders, including Bruno Wilson with 63 touches, who probably really wishes about now that he only had 62 touches.