Photo Marjorie Elzey
Sam Adeniran
In the first roster-related development, the Union announced Thursday they had signed forward Sam Adeniran from St. Louis City FC of the western conference for $150,000 of General Allocation Money (GAM) informally known to some as Garber Bucks. Click here.
St. Louis is unloading roughly the last three months of an annualized salary of roughly $94,000 on a contract that ends December 31, 2024 with no options. They have just signed their fourth homegrown player, a striker. Adeniran fell out with recently fired coach Bradley Carnell getting himself suspended for a bad reaction to being benched. Jonathan Tannenwald of The Inquirer reports that St Louis was considering an offer from Austrian side LASK but chose Philly’s GAM instead, and that a source has told him the LASK deal could still occur this winter.
A look from the full-width distance of a full-sized practice pitch the day after the first team’s win over New England saw a player who fit Adeniran’s skin tone, size, and hair style at work with the first teamers who had not played extensively in the match if at all. Tannenwald’s story confirms that it was Adeniran and suggests that he might dress as soon as Saturday’s Nashville match.
Lending credibility to Tannenwald’s Nashville speculation, St. Louis City plays a pressing defensive system roughly similar to Philadelphia’s and Philly will be playing on the third day after a match. Whenever Adeniran does dress, if he does not wear number 4 his uniform number will reinforce the probability that its previous owner is not coming back from loan. (Only number 4 – traditionally a defender – remains unused from either this season’s array or last’s.)
Adjusted Roster Rules
In the second development, new MLS roster rules are now officially in effect. Click here for Thursday’s announcement.
Most importantly, the details of the six roster slots whose salaries are allowed to exceed the salary cap have been adjusted to create roster construction flexibility. The special slots still total three Designated Players (DPs) and three U22 roster initiative players (U22s). And clubs are not required to carry that many of either.
The total number of special slots has not increased but greater flexibility in how clubs may use them now exists. We chart the two current possible combinations below
| Designated Player Model | U22 player initiative model | |||
| 1 | Designated player | Designated player | 1 | |
| 2 | Designated player | Designated player | 2 | |
| 3 | Designated player | + | ||
| + | U22 initiative player | 1 | ||
| 1 | U22 initiative player | U22 initiative player | 2 | |
| 2 | U22 initiative player | U22 initiative player | 3 | |
| 3 | U22 initiative player | U22 initiative player | 4 | |
| + | ||||
| Up to $2 million in added GAM | ||||
It will now be possible to have a fourth U22 and extra GAM for the year by foregoing the third DP. Whether the more extreme “One-and-Five” combination was ever discussed we do not know.
The Young Designated Player category – 23 or younger – continues to exist as one or more of the three possible DPs, and the annual $150,000 charge for carrying a third 24-year-old DP also continues, as does the proviso that if the third DP is a Young DP the charge does not apply. (Click here for the Roster Rules and Regulations civilians’ summary updated as of July 18, 2024.)
The added GAM must be used before that year’s roster freeze date. It may not accumulate from year to year. How the league generates its general allocation money remains sparsely know to the public.
Philly for the rest of 2024
Philadelphia’s current DP/U22 combination follows.
| Designated Players | U22 initiative players | ||||
| Player | Base Salary | Player | Base Salary | ||
| 1 | Mikael Uhre | $1,800,000 | OlwethuMakhanya | $225,000 | 1 |
| 2 | Daniel Gazdag | $1,600,000 | ?? | 2 | |
| empty | 3 | ||||
| empty | 4 | ||||
The last definitive information directly on point for roster categories was the May 1 MLS Union Roster Profile published May 1stand for annualized base salaries the MLS Players Association 2024 Spring Salary Guide.
The Union have officially announced four new first-team signing since May1. But David Vazquez’s data was included in both documents, so we know he is neither a DP or a U22 player. And since Sam Adeniran’s contract was also included under St. Louis he can be excluded as well.
We can make no definitive statements about Andrew Rick and Cavan Sullivan because there is no evidence. We guess it is unlikely that Rick is either a DP or a U22. We guess the younger Sullivan is more of a possibility than Rick, but more as a U22 than a DP and not necessarily this year.
Club transfer revenue
The final change to MLS’s roster rules gives each club a larger share of the revenue generated by selling a player away.
Previously when a club received a transfer fee, if it was a large fee the league got the lion’s share of the money. Think of Alphonso Davis, Miguel Almiron, or in the Union’s case Brenden Aaronson.
Now, the proportion is changed in the club’s favor. The revenue is still shared, but the selling club gets to keep more of it. We assume the limit is a percentage of some number that increases annually.
| Previous limit per sale 2024 | New limit per sale 2024 |
| $1,215,506 | $3,000,000 |
Adeniran did dress (and play) and wore #9, so I guess that means Carranza’s not coming back anytime soon 🙁
Hey Tim, you might not see this but I thought I’d put it out there anyway.
.
I think there is more nuance to the club transfer section. A selling club pays 5% of the transfer profit (selling fee less purchase fee) to the league. Up to 3 mil of that profit can be converted into GAM per season. There are 2 changes from before.
– In the past it was 1.2 mil per transaction.
– For the sale of home grown players there was no 5% “tax”
.
There are other restrictions/special rules, because MLS must have complex rules.
.
– for U22 initiative players the amount of potential GAM is based on a sliding scale that awards more GAM for lower original purchase prices
.
That’s it as far as I understand it. Of course, I may be wrong.