Josef Martínez is creeping up the all-time MLS goal scorers chart | OneFootball

Josef Martinez probably won't ever recapture the form that saw him reign singularly as Major League Soccer's most consistent striker from 2017 to 2019.

But he can still be great in shorter stints, as he showed on Sunday when he pounced for his MLS record seventh career hat trick. And if the now-31-year-old keeps going for a few more seasons even at his current pace, he will still go down as one of the league's all-time great marksmen, despite that 2020 ACL tear that irrevocably changed his career trajectory.

In fact, he's already cementing that legacy, having moved above Bradley Wright-Phillips into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time MLS goal scoring list with Sunday's performance.

MLS all-time goal-scoring leaders

How high can Josef go?

Martinez has covered quite a bit of ground since the beginnig of the 2024 season, vaulting from 10th to sixth with 11 goals at Montreal last season and four so far this year with San Jose. And for all the talk of his decline, he's still produced at a respectable output since 2021, averaging above 0.55 goals per 90 minutes in all but one of those previous five seasons when he's on the field.

The issue for Martinez has been staying healthy and earning the right to be on the field ahead of other options on his team. At Miami two seasons ago and Montreal last season, he missed fifty-plus days each year on account of an arthroscopic knee procedure.

But if he can stay reasonably healthy and productive through his age 34 or 35 seasons, 20 more goals seems like a realistic, modest expectation, and 30 or more not outside the realm of possibility. Being in San Jose with Bruce Arena certainly helps, given Arena's willingness to play Martinez alongside Cristian Arango in a two striker setup rather than choosing between the two.

In other words, Martinez may yet finish as the second-highest scoring MLS forward of all time, something that seemed unimaginable even 24 months ago when his general failure to produce in Miami looked like the beginning of the end.