Right-back Harrison Afful is irreplaceable at Columbus Crew ahead of the new MLS season, according to expert Bobby Warshaw.

The Ghana international is preparing for his fifth season with the Blood and Gold when the season gets underway in March.

Ex-footballer Warshaw, an analyst at MSLsoccer.com, wrote: ''A Caleb Porter team, at its best, uses the outside backs as the key variable to unbalance a defense.

''Afful plays the marauding fullback role better than anyone else in MLS. (I’d listen to shouts for Pipa Higuain here, but the hill has to start moving downward at some point, right?).''

Full list for MLS clubs:

Atlanta United- Michael Parkhurst

Chicago Fire- Dax McCarty

FC Cincinnati- Fanendo Adi

Colorado Rapids- Benny Feilhaber

FC Dallas- Matt Hedges

D.C. United- Wayne Rooney

Houston Dynamo-Juan David Cabezas

LAFC- Walker Zimmerman

LA Galaxy- Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Minnesota United FC- Ozzie Alonso

Montreal Impact- Nacho Piatti

New England Revolution- Michael Mancienne

New York City FC- Alex Ring

New York Red Bulls-Bradley Wright-Phillips

Orlando City SC-Dom Dwyer

Philadelphia Union-Alejandro Bedoya

Portland Timbers-Diego Chara

Seattle Sounders-Nico Lodeiro

Sporting Kansas City-Johnny Russell

Toronto FC-Jozy Altidore