ATLANTA -- New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips says he loves it that Josef Martinez is closing in on his Major League Soccer single-season goal-scoring record.
Wright-Phillips scored 27 in the 2014 season, putting him atop the league's record books, alongside Chris Wondolowski (2012) and Roy Lassiter (1996). Atlanta United striker Martinez has already found the back of the net 24 times, and the Five Stripes still have another 11 matches to play this season.
And Wright-Phillips, speaking ahead of Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game against Juventus (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), says that the fact that Martinez is already within touching distance of the record at the midway point of the season proves how far MLS has come in recent years.
"I love it. It's great because it shows that improvement in the league. It really does," Wright-Phillips told ESPN in an exclusive interview. "Kids that see him, this is what they're going to want to do. That will be the standard."
Martinez moved to Atlanta ahead of its inaugural season in 2017, joining from Italian side Torino, where he scored just seven times across 58 appearances in three seasons.
Wright-Phillips similarly found success in North America following some hard times in Europe. The South London native played for five different clubs, highlighted by Manchester City and Southampton, across three levels of English football, before moving to the U.S. midway through the 2013 season.
And the 33-year-old doesn't see his success or that of Martinez as a referendum on MLS and its standing in comparison to other leagues around the world, but rather the products of environment and coaching.
"Sometimes it's not even the country you're playing in, it's the manager and your relationship with that manager," Wright-Phillips said. "I knew how to have a good game under [Jesse Marsch], I knew exactly what my role was: the runs you want me to make, my defensive duties and obviously getting goals, and it just makes it easier.
"I feel like Martinez knows what's expected of him and feels comfortable [in Atlanta]. Anywhere you play, I think if you have that, you'll do well."