New York City FC‘s run as of late hasn’t been up to par, nor has the squad met it’s expectations so far. If there’s one player that has met his expectations, even exceed them, it’s NYCFC’s left-back Ronald Matarrita.

The Costa Rican native came in the squad during the off-season and was brought in to be a rotational player. Since coming over, Matarrita has shown a lot of promise and has proved to Patrick Vieira that he’s no fluke. In four of the five games in the 2016 campaign, Matarrita has gone the distance playing the full 90 minutes, even putting a couple shots on goal.

Matarrita brings explosiveness, aggression, agility and speed, all qualities that makes a good full back. In Sunday’s game against the Chicago Fire, Matarrita completed 40 of his 44 passes, finishing with a 90 percentile. His performance earned him MLS Team of the Week honors and helped NYCFC achieve it’s first clean sheet of the season.

Matarrita has missed one game this season and that was due to international duty for Costa Rica. The young 21-year old is also becoming a fan favorite as he was missed during the match against the New England Revolution.

Another part of Matarrita’s game that’s exciting is his ability to overlap and push the ball forward. The “Overlap King” has the ability to push up, get wide and put in a worthy cross. In NYCFC’s overhaul of their defense this off-season, Matarrita is easily their best signing.

Along with Matarrita, they’ve brought in Diego Martinez, Shannon Gomez, Ethan White and Ethan White. Martinez, Gomez and R.J Allen are able to play the left back position and we got a glimpse of Martinez when Matarrita was out.

Along with Thomas McNamara, Matarrita is going beyond of he was expected to do. He’s meshing well with Vieira’s tactics and don’t be surprised if you see his name again in the Team of the Week line-up.