Impressive milestone proves Wilfried Nancy is changing the game at Columbus Crew | OneFootball

Reigning MLS manager of the year Wilfried Nancy continues to defy even the lofty expectations his own success has created. And this weekend, he took a step toward cementing his legacy as one of the very best MLS managers of all time.

With Saturday's 2-1 home win over CF Montreal on Saturday night, the Crew (4W-3D-0L) extended their unbeaten start, joining only Inter Miami among remaining unbeaten teams in the league so far. In the process, Nancy took his all-time league record with the club to 39W-21D-15L, good for a 52% win percentage that ties an MLS all-time record held by some elite peers.

Only Bob Bradley and Bruce Arena have equalled that mark in their first 75 games at a club, and what's more, it took them far longer at honing their craft to do so.

Bradley did it with LAFC from 2018 to 2020, in what was his fourth MLS job, coming after stints coaching the national teams for the United States and Egypt, as well as a brief tenure in charge of Swansea City.

Arena did it during his time with the New England Revolution, also his third MLS club after also coaching the USMNT and the LA Galxy for nearly a decade before that.

Nancy's far quicker learning curve

By contrast, Nancy is still in only his fifth season as a senior manager, having come to Columbus following two strong seasons with CF Montreal. And he is beginning to earn a reputation as a borderline miracle worker this season after seeing his side lose star Cucho Hernandez to a move to Real Betis just before the season began.

But year after year, he gets improvement out of players who previously weren't well known. This year it's Jacen Russell-Rowe who has emerged as a scoring threat from the striker position to at least partly replace Hernandez's production. And his leading assist contributor so far is center back Stephen Moreira, who already has three to his name.

If Nancy stays on this trajectory, he may go down as the best manager in MLS history. Or he might simply become the best manager the league has ever produced, because his future successes come in Europe. A chance with a Big Five European league club feels almost inevitable sooner or later.