Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union Communications
The MLS Players Union published its 2024 Fall Salary Guide today Thursday, October 24, 2024. The data is valid as of September 13th, this season’s roster freeze day. The Guide itself is available here.
We have copied out the Philadelphia Union’s data with the following modifications.
- We have combined first and last names into one chart cell instead of two.
- We have omitted the team name cell that is next to each individual.
- We have abbreviated positions and edited them to reflect current team reality.
- We have omitted the tenths and hundredths columns –“.00” –from the money numbers since they were all zeroes in Philadelphia’s case.
- We have added boldfaced superscripts after player names as follows:
- FA= free agent
- i= injured all season
- PO = Purchase Option Decision pending
- u = unavailable, loaned away
The information for Andrew Rick, Cavan Sullivan, Samuel Adeniran, CJ Olney, and Danley Jean Jacques was previously unknown as all were signed subsequent to publication of the Spring Salary Guide.
- Rick and Olney are making the Supplemental Reserve Roster minimum.
- Adeniran is making exactly what he was with St. Louis in the spring, reinforcing the idea that he is playing on that contract and is a free agent.
- Danley Jean Jacques is making only $50,000 less than Jose Martinez was when he left for Corinthians.
- Cavan Sullivan’s much trumpeted record-breaking salary was $50,000 a year more than his older brother’s, which might have made for interesting dinner table conversation chez Sullivan had Quinn not been signed to a new contract — financial terms unknown of course! — yesterday, Wednesday, October 23rd.
Because the guaranteed compensation figure includes other costs besides salaries in ways that are not uniform from player to player, PSP has always focused on the annualized base salary numbers as they provide the most exact comparisons. We have sorted the table by positions and arranged the positional groups from the attacking line first to the goalkeeping line last, and within each line from left to right. Within those groups we list the salaries in descending order.
A note to those curious about the repeated figures: $71,401 is the Supplemental Reserve Roster minimum, and $89,716 is Supplemental Senior Roster minimum. They are set for each year by the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Here is the data.
| Name | Pos | Base salary |
Guaranteed Compensation |
| Mikael Uhre | S | $1,800,000 | $2,040,000 |
| Tai Baribo | S | $650,000 | $760,000 |
| Markus Anderson | S | $100,000 | $102,000 |
| Sam AdeniranFA | S | $93,988 | $93,988 |
| Chris Donovan | S | $89,716 | $109,872 |
| Nelson Pierreu | S | $71,401 | $85,517 |
| Daniel Gazdag | AM | $1,600,000 | $1,757,500 |
| Cavan Sullivan | AM | $200,000 | $364,000 |
| Jeremy Rafanello | AM | $100,000 | $107,636 |
| Leon FlachFA | LM | $300,000 | $314,500 |
| Jack McGlynn | LM | $200,000 | $226,533 |
| CJ Olney | LM | $71,401 | $85,066 |
| Alejandro BedoyaFA | RM | $324,996 | $389,996 |
| Quinn Sullivan | RM | $150,000 | $153,500 |
| David Vazquez | RM | $71,401 | $87,281 |
| Danley Jean Jacques | DM | $550,000 | $602,100 |
| Jesus Bueno | DM | $280,000 | $312,625 |
| Nick Parianou | DM | $71,401 | $76,594 |
| Kai Wagner | LB | $875,000 | $1,032,500 |
| Matt Realu | LB | $155,000 | $171,500 |
| Isaiah LeFlorei | LB | $71,401 | $80,764 |
| Jack Elliott | LCB | $800,000 | $893,750 |
| Olwethu Makhanya | LCB | $225,000 | $263,875 |
| Jakob Glesnes | RCB | $1,000,000 | $1,138,125 |
| Brandan Craigu | RCB | $160,000 | $172,825 |
| Olivier Mbaizo | RB | $350,000 | $423,589 |
| Nathan Harriel | RB | $240,000 | $262,050 |
| Jamir BerdecioPO | RB | $89,716 | $97,910 |
| Andre Blake | GK | $800,000 | $981,250 |
| Holden Trent | GK | $89,716 | $89,716 |
| Oliver Semmle | GK | $89,716 | $106,040 |
| Andrew Rick | GK | $71,401 | $81,316 |
STRENGTHEN THE DEFENSE ….
The Union need to unload or renegotiate some contracts and spend real money on the first team. They need to figure out if the Glesnes down year was due to a lingering injury or has has he lost some decision making skills. Either way they must strengthen the centerback spot. Lowe is gone. Is Craig ready and available ? if not, they need to go to the outside market today. Mbiazo and Harriel are not the answer at right back. The Union must spend money on the outside market and get a solid right back today.No accademy hopefuls. You can always fool around with experiments at forward with prospects and accademy players.
As will be indicated in the second or third piece of the roster analysis series, Glesnes’s contract is guaranteed. They have to pay him no matter what he is doing no matter where he is doing it.
.
So, he will be playing right center back in Philadelphia. How much will be up to the technical staff of which Jim Curtin is an important part.
.
Harriel is also guaranteed for next season. Mbaizo is on an option, but given the depth at outside back at the lower levels and the size of the jump to MLS from MLS NEXT Pro, I would be very surprised if Mbaizo does not return also. Very.
.
While all is this is likely true, then where does the upgrade to the defense come from? Or are we just running it back again in 2025?