Daniel Salloi Signs Four-Year Contract Extension with Sporting KC

2022 was a contract year for Daniel Salloi. Going into the season, The Blue Testament and others repeatedly asked him if he would be signing a new deal. Both he and Peter Vermes were non-committal early on. Even recently, there was still nothing coming out on a new deal. Then this past weekend, after a 1-0 win by Sporting Kansas City over the San Jose Earthquakes, he and Peter Vermes went into the member’s club and hinted strongly at good news.

Today, that news was made official. Salloi signed a four-year contract extension through the end of the 2026 season. His deal had been set to expire at the end of this year and he is already in the pre-contract window where he could have signed a deal to leave after the season.

And there was interest.

Sam McDowell of the KC Star reports that Salloi had interest from leagues in Spain, France, Portugal and others. Sam also reported Salloi asked for a transfer or loan just 18-months ago in the middle of that horrific slump before he absolutely went off in 2021 and was an MLS MVP Finalist. (It’s a good story, you should go read it too).

No other terms of the deal have been released and it’s unclear if an updated salary would even show up when the MLSPA releases their second salary dump of the year since his 2022 numbers presumably will be unchanged. Sporting KC don’t have any open Designated Player (DP) slots, but it’s possible Salloi’s new deal can reach into the Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) threshold. That number climbs to a max of $1,651,250 in 2023. Daniel made $506,667 in 2022.

Update (1:11 PM CST): Salloi’s agent seems to indicate it’s a TAM deal, so that’s between $651,250 and $1,651,250 in 2023. They also said he resigned, but I’m confident he re-signed (I’ve made that mistake).

This move locks down Sporting KC’s attacking core for at least 2023, with several well beyond. Alan Pulido, Gadi Kinda, Johnny Russell, Erik Thommy, Remi Walter, William Agada and Salloi are all locked up through at least 2023. There is still work to be done in the offseason, but that’s a very solid attacking core.

For 2022, Salloi is second on the team behind Russell in scoring with six goals. He also has three assists. He bagged 16 (!) league goals and eight assists last year. Hopefully his confidence issues are behind him and KC can be contenders for years to come with all their pieces healthy next season.

“I’m staying home,” Salloi said in response to European interest. Welcome home Daniel.