Back in January, the Revs decided to make Carles Gil their first seven-figure acquisition when they shelled out a club-record transfer fee of $2 million to bring him to New England.
Well, that investment has paid off — in a big way.
On Wednesday morning, Gil was honored as MLS Newcomer of the Year, an award given annually to the player with previous professional experience who had an outstanding debut season in MLS. He beat out finalists Heber (New York City FC) and Alejandro Pozuelo (Toronto FC) in a vote decided by media, MLS players, and club technical staff. He's the first Revolution player to win the award and the second player in club history to be named a finalist, joining Jermaine Jones (2014).
Gil has been a consistent force all season long for the Revs. He led the team in both goals (10) and assists (14) while wearing the captain's arm band for the final 23 matches of the season en route to the team's first playoff berth since 2015.
The midfielder is just the second Revolution player to reach double-digit totals in goals and assists in a single season, following in the footsteps of Lee Nguyen, who accomplished the feat in 2017. Gil's combined totals in goals and assists ranked first among newcomers and fifth in the league overall. He also became the second player in club history to start all 34 matches and was substituted only once, missing eight minutes of league play.
Gil's teammate Gustavo Bou finished fifth in the voting. Here's the breakdown for the top five finishers.
| Player % | Club % | Media % | Final % | |
| Carles Gil (NE) | 12.16% | 21.43% | 25.10% | 19.56% |
| Heber (NYC) | 8.78% | 15.31% | 28.57% | 17.55% |
| Alejandro Pozuelo (TOR) | 18.58% | 5.10% | 12.36% | 12.01% |
| Alexandru Mitrita (NYC) | 11.15% | 15.31% | 1.54% | 9.33% |
| Gustavo Bou (NE) | 6.76% | 9.18% | 4.63% | 6.86% |
The next challenge for Gil is leading his team to a postseason victory. The Revs face Atlanta United FC in the first round of the MLS Playoffs this Saturday at 1 p.m. in a game that can be seen on NBC Sports Boston.
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