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For the final time in 2022, the Major League Soccer Players Association released their bi-annual salary data. It’s always an interesting time to see what players make, who is overpaid, who is underpaid and what the summer signings and new contracts have brought to the table in terms of roster flexibility. If you are interested, here is a look back at prior data points.
New Signings
The marquee names on the list are summer transfer window signings Erik Thommy and William Agada, who came in and almost saved Sporting Kansas City’s season (just another game or two and who knows). When players have that big of an impact it’s always intriguing to see how they’ll impact the MLS salary budget.
Erik Thommy, who joined from German Bundesliga side Stuttgart is getting a hefty payout. He clocks in at $1,306,250 in guaranteed compensation (which is the numbers we’ll refer to throughout). That means Thommy falls well within the Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) threshold ($612,500 to $1,612,500 in 2022), meaning SKC have to buy down his salary to fit him in the budget since their three Designated Player spots are taken (Pulido, Russell, Kinda).
Willy Agada on the other hand, who joined via a small transfer fee (rumored at $385,000) from Israeli Premier League side Hapoel Jerusalem, is a bargain at $246,875. That’s a good bit of business for Sporting KC who got more out of Agada in just 920 minutes of league play than he had in any other top flight season (he did score 15 goals in the Israeli second division in 2019-20).
Other Wage Changes
Felipe Hernandez is the only other salary change. He hops from $85,444 to $119,153 in guaranteed compensation. It’s unclear if he hit some sort of bonus as his base pay was unaffected, or if he signed some sort of new deal. That seems unlikely as the team likely would have made an announcement.
John Pulskamp and Daniel Salloi had signed new contracts during the season but those changes aren’t reflected in the new release and presumably their salaries will change in future seasons.
One interesting note is that Grayson Barber and Tyler Freeman, who were released before the season, are still in the full salary report, but Freeman has moved to D.C. United’s list while Barber is still listed just under MLS. Freeman is signed to a professional deal to DCU’s minor league Loudoun United.
The only other change is Nikola Vujnovic’s $481,705 falling off the books after he was released from his loan.
Full Salary List
Without further delay, here is the full list.
Final 2022 Sporting KC Salaries
| First Name | Last Name | Club | Position(s) | Base Salary | Guaranteed Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Name | Last Name | Club | Position(s) | Base Salary | Guaranteed Compensation |
| Alan | Pulido | Sporting Kansas City | F | $2,200,000.00 | $2,200,000.00 |
| Johnny | Russell | Sporting Kansas City | F | $2,000,000.00 | $2,000,000.00 |
| Erik | Thommy | Sporting Kansas City | M | $1,200,000.00 | $1,306,250.00 |
| Andreu | Fontas | Sporting Kansas City | D | $1,125,000.00 | $1,125,000.00 |
| Nicolas | Isimat-Mirin | Sporting Kansas City | D | $950,000.00 | $1,028,124.00 |
| Gadi | Kinda | Sporting Kansas City | M | $850,000.00 | $918,000.00 |
| Remi | Walter | Sporting Kansas City | M | $800,000.00 | $800,000.00 |
| Marinos | Tzionis | Sporting Kansas City | F-M | $612,500.00 | $612,500.00 |
| Tim | Melia | Sporting Kansas City | GK | $525,000.00 | $529,167.00 |
| Daniel | Salloi | Sporting Kansas City | F | $450,000.00 | $506,667.00 |
| Oriol | Rosell | Sporting Kansas City | M | $475,000.00 | $475,000.00 |
| Graham | Zusi | Sporting Kansas City | D | $450,000.00 | $450,000.00 |
| Robert | Voloder | Sporting Kansas City | D | $400,000.00 | $427,860.00 |
| Logan | Ndenbe | Sporting Kansas City | D | $350,000.00 | $396,125.00 |
| Khiry | Shelton | Sporting Kansas City | F | $350,000.00 | $350,000.00 |
| Roger | Espinoza | Sporting Kansas City | M | $300,000.00 | $300,000.00 |
| William | Agada | Sporting Kansas City | F | $200,000.00 | $246,875.00 |
| Ben | Sweat | Sporting Kansas City | D | $200,000.00 | $200,000.00 |
| Kortne | Ford | Sporting Kansas City | D | $150,000.00 | $151,667.00 |
| Kendall | McIntosh | Sporting Kansas City | GK | $120,000.00 | $120,000.00 |
| Felipe | Hernandez | Sporting Kansas City | M | $85,444.00 | $119,153.00 |
| Cameron | Duke | Sporting Kansas City | M | $90,000.00 | $93,000.00 |
| John | Pulskamp | Sporting Kansas City | GK | $89,716.00 | $92,216.00 |
| Kaveh | Rad | Sporting Kansas City | D | $84,000.00 | $84,000.00 |
| Kayden | Pierre | Sporting Kansas City | D | $65,500.00 | $70,600.00 |
| Osvaldo | Cisneros | Sporting Kansas City | F | $65,500.00 | $68,500.00 |
| Jacob | Davis | Sporting Kansas City | M | $65,500.00 | $65,500.00 |
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