If Bradley Wright-Phillips was doing what he does in any professional sport other than soccer, he would be the face of his sport.
He would be the Stephen Curry or LeBron James of the NBA, the Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers of the NFL, the Kris Bryant or Mike Trout of baseball, the Patrick Kane or Sidney Crosby of the NHL.
Playing for the Red Bulls in Major League Soccer, though, despite winning the “Golden Boot’’ as the league’s leading goal scorer two of the past three years, Wright-Phillips works his craft in relative anonymity.
That’s OK with him, because it fits his humble nature. But it really isn’t OK, because what Wright-Phillips has accomplished in his three years with the Red Bulls should make him the top star in the league.
Until recently, with Wright-Phillips named among the three finalists who are up for the MLS MVP award for this season, he has played in the shadows of the bigger-name former stars from European leagues who came to MLS and have rested on reputation.
“Bradley doesn’t get near the sort of attention and recognition that he should,’’ Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles said. “Think about what he’s done in three seasons — 27, 17 and 24 goals. And even the 17 goals, that was considered a down season. Do you know how many millions of dollars teams have paid to go and sign a 17-goal scorer?
“For a guy to accomplish that and get as little recognition as he does, it’s shameful. But he prefers that. He’s comfortable in who he is, and he’s comfortable in who he’s not.’’
Who Bradley is not is his father, Ian Wright, who was a goal-scoring legend for Arsenal and currently is a sports TV personality in England.
“Maybe growing up in that sort of spotlight didn’t allow him to develop the way that we’ve been able to see him develop here,’’ Robles said.
There was a theory — and, full disclosure, it was a theory I wholeheartedly subscribed to — that Wright-Phillips’ 27-goal performance in 2014 was purely a product of the legendary Thierry Henry, who retired after that season.
Henry was a magician with his feet, putting the ball precisely where it needed to be for Wright-Phillips, who merely needed to finish.
After Henry retired, Wright-Phillips’ goal production dropped from 27 to 17 and there were whispers … until he scored 24 this season.
“I heard that a lot,’’ Wright-Phillips said. “It used to annoy me, I won’t lie.’’
Wright-Phillips is by no means resentful of Henry. Instead, he revels in the time he had with the French maestro.
“Even though he’s not here, a lot of the time I play with Theirry in my head,’’ he said. “I take that guy with me in every game. So much of my game is owed to Thierry. We text regularly. He watches the games. He lets me know how I’m doing.’’
Wright-Phillips recalled times when he would score a hat trick, and after the game Henry would drag him into the film room and show him why he should have had five goals.
Wright-Phillips, for example, knows he should have buried the wide-open chance he had to score the equalizer against Montreal last Sunday, but he missed an open net in the waning moments, leaving the Red Bulls down 1-0 entering Sunday’s second leg of the Eastern Conference semifinal at Red Bulls Arena.
“That guy taught me not to be so wasteful with chances, because I was like that,’’ Wright-Phillips said.
Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch argued the beneficiary of the relationship between Henry and Wright-Phillips was the other way around.
“As much as people say Theirry made Bradley good,” Marsch said, “I would argue, before I came here, that Bradley made Thierry good.’’
Red Bulls midfielder Sacha Kljestan, who has taken the place of Henry and had a league-high 20 assists this season, said, “More than just the goals, Brad is not your typical diva forward who’s a crybaby when he doesn’t get the ball.
“Sometimes, these selfish egotistical forwards are often the best ones because they’re selfish,’’ he said. “Brad is so unselfish that it’s almost wild to think that he’s still got 24 goals with the nature of the person he is.’’
Kljestan has a sound theory about why Wright-Phillips blends into the fabric of his own team and does not stand out as a star.
“Soccer is a different sport,’’ Kljestan said. “One reason is we have national teams, and because Brad doesn’t play for his national team people don’t consider him a superstar. And because [MLS] is so young and there are so many other professional soccer leagues around the world, some guys come here with a pedigree that they’re already superstars and no matter what they do in MLS they’ll still always be superstars.
“That’s maybe why Brad isn’t considered a superstar. Although, in my opinion, he is.’’