5. Omar Mascarell
Omar Mascarell is 27-years-old, so he isn’t exactly young. Even though he feels younger because we’ve been waiting for his best for quite some time. Now that we have it, I have zero interest in losing it.
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Mascarell has the armband, he’s the frontrunner for the player of the season, he’s a demonstrative presence on the pitch and no matter what happens elsewhere in the formation, you can always count on Mascarell to do his job.
He’s made a killing serving as a holding midfielder that drops back to help out at centerback when necessary. It’s one of the main reasons why this defense has been so damn good this year.
Mascarell, like Serdar, has two years left on his deal. That locks him in until he’s 29, but given that he’s a bit of a late bloomer, it’s realistic that we could still be getting the best of him into his 30’s.
Even just a two-year extension, locking him in until he’s 31/32, would be ideal. Let’s not worry about losing Mascarell anytime soon. If we want to sell him while he’s peaking, that’s fine. But while he’s in the form that he’s in now, we can’t risk losing him.
Let’s take a step back with the next guy.