BRADENTON, FLA.

There isn’t anyone better in Major League Soccer.

Just ask him.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Toronto FC’s Justin Morrow responded after being asked if he’s the best left fullback in the league.

“That’s always my goal,” he told the Toronto Sun this week at the club’s South Florida hotel. “I always want to hold myself to that standard.”

It seems others — well, most everyone — around the league has taken notice.

And they just might agree with Morrow’s high praise for himself.

Following Saturday’s pre-season win over Danish side HB Koge, Toronto FC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko caught up with the Sun for a post-game walk across the pitch.

During it, he revealed a plethora of teams in the league regularly inquire with him about acquiring Morrow via a trade.

A few minutes later, Greg Vanney acknowledged he doesn’t see why Morrow shouldn’t be in consideration for the U.S. national team again if he continues at his current rate.

It’s exactly where a professional athlete wants to be heading into the final year of his contract.

“It’s something I love to hear,” Morrow said after hearing Vanney’s comments. “But I can only control my performances. I can’t control what (U.S. head coach Jurgen) Klinsmann does.”

“It’s nice to know I’ve built up a reputation, but I also understand it can be taken away in a second.

Like in 2013, when one month Morrow was on the bench for a massive World Cup qualifier in Mexico.

“The next week I was on the bench in San Jose,” Morrow remembered.

Since then, the 27-year-old Cleveland native has been rebuilding his reputation as one of the most steady defenders in the league since appearing in the MLS all-star game in 2012.

Many considered him TFC’s top player last season, a campaign that saw him grab three assists in 30 mostly mistake-free starts.

On a non-playoff team, though, it’s easy to blend in when you’re not playing into November — which is why Morrow wasn’t surprised not to have received another call from Klinsmann.

“In Jurgen’s eyes, you have to do something pretty big to be recognized,” Morrow surmised. “That’s what happened the last time. I was an all-star that year, then I got called into the January (2013) camp.”

An injury to Fabian Johnson in the buildup to two massive World Cup qualifiers two years ago allowed Morrow to get a taste of what it was like to prepare with the big boys.

“I was in the January camp before that and it was my first cap (against Canada in Houston),” Morrow said.

“Immediately you could tell the difference between a January camp and the qualifiers. The level is incredible playing with guys like Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley.”

He remembers watching the U.S. top Costa Rica 1-0 in the Denver snow before heading for Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, the mecca for soccer in North America.

“There were times when DeMarcus Beasley went down and Klinsmann had me warming up,” Morrow said. “I was thinking, ‘This could be it.’”

It was his last taste of the national team, for now.

“I never got back to that level,” Morrow added. “But it’s where I want to be.”

Beyond performing week in, week out within MLS, Morrow is taking steps to become more than just the best left-sided defender in the league.

He spent some time training with German side Werder Bremen late last year to grow professionally.

“The football part was amazing, getting to understand what it means to be at that level,” Morrow said. “I didn’t make any personal connections.”

It’s not easy walking into a German dressing room, sparking suspicions of everyone at the club.

“At first, everyone was really skeptical,” Morrow explained. “You walk into a locker room like that and they all think, ‘Man, is this guy coming to take my job?’”

He’s looking to bring the little things he did pick up along the way back to Toronto, where he and his wife are open to staying beyond the 2015 season.

“We’re open to anything,” Morrow said. “I really love Toronto. I could see myself being here a long time, but I need to see how contract negotiations go.”

A lot of which could depend on what happens with the league’s current collective bargaining agreement with its players.

The two sides have yet to come to an agreement ahead of opening day, with the players pushing for free agency and MLS brass refusing to budge.

Morrow, who made a decent wage ($170,000) in 2014, would stand to benefit next off-season if he’s able to negotiate with teams other than TFC, which currently holds his rights.

“I understand now that no matter who you are — on the national team or an all-star — if your performances aren’t legit, then people know,” he said.

Then he repeated it: “People will know.”

Right now, though, people are recognizing Morrow’s legitimacy as a candidate to be named among the league’s elite.

There aren’t many fullbacks in MLS that are playing at a higher level at the moment.

For Morrow, there aren’t any.

LARSON’S TOP 5 LEFT FULLBACKS IN MLS

Morrow thinks he’s the best left-sided defender in the league and we agree. But who is in contention?

1) Justin Morrow (TFC) — Looks to be in top form two weeks out from the start of the season. Easily Toronto FC’s top defender in 2014. Yeah, he’s not Marcelo, but he’s more than capable of getting up the wings and providing service. Simply put, there aren’t many holes in his game.

2) Chris Tierney (New England) — His game looks a lot like Morrow’s, except the two excel at opposite ends of the pitch. Both are solid on both sides of the ball, but Tierney is a bit sharper in the final third. That said, he’s slightly less athletic than Morrow and certainly not as dominant in defence.

3) Chris Wingert (New York City) — More of a stay-at-home left fullback who has loads of experience after playing under head coach Jason Kreis in Salt Lake for so many years. Now he’s back with Kreis at New York City. Wingert isn’t flashy, but you know what you’re going to get out of him — a clean performance every time out.

4) Robbie Rogers (L.A. Galaxy) — He’s still learning the position after playing as a winger most of his career, but Rogers might be in line for a U.S. national team callup if all goes well to start 2015. What he lacks on the defensive side of the ball he makes up for going forward. Rogers might be the most gifted attacking fullback in the league.

5) Seth Sinovic (Sporting KC) — A blue-collar left fullback who gets up and down the pitch. He’s tidy in possession and knows his role well in Peter Vermes’ system. Had a cup of coffee with the U.S. national team. He’s a threat whenever he’s overlapping the midfield at Sporting Park.

A FEW DAYS IN BREMAN

BRADENTON, Fla. — He may not have made too many friends in Breman, Germany, but Justin Morrow relished the chance to train at one of the country’s biggest clubs.

“It was my first taste of European football,” Morrow told the Toronto Sun. “The whole experience was great.”

Toronto FC brass set up the training stint — which included Morrow’s teammate, Collen Warner — through Torsten Frings.

Frings appeared more than 300 times for Breman before joining Toronto FC in 2011.

“You can tell that from a young age, they have been coached a certain way,” Morrow said of the Germans. “You can tell they are very connected on the field.

“It was a great level. It was different. They play the game different. It’s hard to explain.”

The hardest part might have been convincing Breman’s players he wasn’t there on trial.

“Once it was clear that I was just there to get an experience the guys warmed up to me,” Morrow said. “But I didn’t forge any personal connections.”