Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
The big news yesterday came with the release of the MLS salary figures. PSP breaks down the Union’s salary. As always, Philly.com’s Jonathan Tannenwald takes a deeper look at the spending trends across the league.
Notable salaries:
- Borek Dockal $1,714,285.68
- David Accam $1,250,000.04
- Auston Trusty $109,100.oo
Philadelphia Union’s Adam Cann (wow, still feels weird to type that out) provides his patented tactical analysis of the loss to Columbus.
Keep an eye out for PSP’s match preview. It will be coming out later today.
MLS
It looks all but certain that Wayne Rooney is on his way to D.C. United.
Wayne Rooney needs MLS more than MLS needs him.
The MLS salary numbers are out and the league has a new top earner.
How rookies helped Chicago Fire beat the Union’s next opponent.
USL
What does Chicago Cubs’ owner Tom Ricketts introduction of a USL expansion team into Chicago proper mean for the Fire?
U.S. Open Cup
In the early highlight of Open Cup action, possibly coolest American club Detroit City advances on PKs over an in-state rival.
U.S. Soccer
Is Michael Bradley the Yanks’ answer at center back?
The sun is setting on America’s keeper.
Who will the USMNT call up for this summer’s [wipes away tear] friendlies?
The North American bid for the 2026 World Cup denies any mischief.
Around the world
Good advice for the World Cup.
What to watch for on the final match day of the English Premier League.
I think the USA should have a summer full of friendlies. I know they have 1 in May and 2 in June but I’d love to see an extended camp past those for European players on break like they do in January with MLSers. Then play one in early July, maybe 1 or 2 more in August. Just play games, get the players playing together and see what they have. I don’t care if anyone watches, I don’t care if the opponents are Gibralter and Bahamas, just play. To put a positive spin on this (there really is none) they essentially have a 2-month head start on 2022 qualifying. Grasping at straws there, but you get the idea.
Unless it’s a specified international date, you can’t just call in players without first getting consent from their clubs and the clubs aren’t going to agree to this. Why would the clubs agree to put their players (who they pay) at risk of getting injured for meaningless friendlies? Makes no sense.
Seeing Adam Cann actually produce work for the Union, IS weird. I’m happy for him. Though I’m not sure the Union deserve his quality.
Shameless but timely reminder that his former outlet, our favorite local soccer blog, most def deserves our Patreon support.
I’m quite sure that the Union DON’T deserve his quality. On the other hand, they were savvy enough to recognize his talents and hire him. Now if they were only that could with hiring coaches and players…
Pour one out for Swansea City. Four managers fired in less than two years. A complete stinker of a season. How they ever thought they’d survive after selling Llorente and Sigurdsson is still a mystery to me. At least we have the wonderful quotables of Carvahal’s brief tenure. Wonder how he’d fancy a move to Chester? Also, Darren Moore. If West Brom doesn’t think he’s fit to lead a Championship side, maybe he’d like to cut his teeth in MLS. If it’s good enough for Vieira…. Moore would be amazing here.
Anyone do the math yet on where the Union rank in terms of spending this year? I would posit that if the team finishes any further than 5 places above or below its salary rank, then we can talk about the manager’s influence. Otherwise…we get what we pay for.
Pretty sure it’s 15th. Recalling from Tannenwald’s pretty lengthy story on the matter.
something else to consider is funny money buy-down vs real money and multi-million $ transfer fees vs on the-books salary.
Yes, Tannenwald already did the math, and we are indeed 15th. But that’s slightly misleading, because a paltry increase of less than $300K, or about 3%, would move us up to 12th out of 23. So we are basically in the middle of the pack. There are a number of teams who spend well less than we do — some of whom have better results.
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Also, the Union spend a lot of money on the Academy, which other clubs don’t, and which doesn’t figure into that number.
The Union spend almost none of Sugarmans money because we buy down DPs and don’t pay transfer fees. He also doesn’t fund the academy or pay much for scouts or coaches. Don’t give them any credit for spending the money the league gives them.
Doesn’t the Chinese league also still pay a portion of Dockal’s salary?