New roster rules are out! https://www.mlssoccer.com/about/roster-rules-and-regulations I barely skimmed them, but at first glance, the ability of players to flow back and forth between the senior mls side and the Next Pro side is extremely limited. It’s very similar to existing restrictions between mls teams and their usl affiliates. There is a small amount of new flexibility allowed to sign a limited number of next pro players to short term (4 day) mls contracts, but I think for no more than 16 days in total per player. If I’m reading this right, mls teams no NOT have much more access to their next pro players than they’ve had to players on the rosters of usl teams they owned and operated. There is a seven player discovery list, so mls teams have ownership claims on those seven next pro players, but that’s it. Every other mls team would have as much access to the rest of our Crew 2 roster as we do, should they want to sign them to an mls contract. I’ve seen nothing so far that explains how mls senior roster players can appear in next pro games, except via the same sort of loan agreements we’ve seen operating with usl clubs. These next pro teams sure feel a lot more like independent minor league clubs than I expected would be the case.
Yeah, but the whole point is to care about the handful (if that) of academy kids that will play there and theoretically move up. Who really cares about the rest of the players that are nothing more than lower league filler? They’ll almost certainly never play for the first team, more than an appearance or two.
I wonder if the rules will change/expand over time as teams sink more $$ into those academies and graduate more players from them into these Next Pro teams, and as the USL affiliation system dies off.
Sure, once more than just a couple teams can actually turn out MLS and USL level players on a regular basis, on a annual or bi-annual rate. I mean, other than Trapp and Morris, has someone come through our academy and actually been a real MLS level regular player? Berhalter can be a rotational guy maybe. Zawadzki looks decent but we need to see more of him. Crognale was decent but I guess he’s just USL level. Other than that there is a big bunch of nothing. No McKennie or Richards level guys like Dallas, no Alridore or Adams like Red Bull, no Reyna or Sands like NYCFC, no Aaronson or McKenzie like Philly, no Arriola or Araujo like LA, no Mihilovic or Sinola like Chicago, no Busio or EPB like KC, etc etc.
Some small updates to the team roster pages seem to have been made by the league’s website intern. Santos no longer appears as an international player. Presumably, he finally got a green card. For reasons unknown, Yeboah still is listed as a U22 player, despite being too old. According to the roster breakdown shown, we have 19 of 20 senior roster spots filled, and 9 of 10 supplemental spots filled.
It is fundamentally unreliable. Period. FWIW, Moreira & Diaz are still not listed as internationals either. Igbekeme not on roster, despite playing yesterday.
Yep. I assume the change to Santos' status means something, however. Someone had to go in and un-do his int'l status. They also updated some of last year's injury status stuff.
Transferred my last, best guess from the other thread. Plus links to the new rules, which are mostly the old rules. https://www.mlssoccer.com/about/roster-rules-and-regulations Hopefully, salary info comes out soon. I. Senior Roster (1-20). 20 of 20. Rank, Player, Pos, Age,DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$/Guar $$ Salary Cap = $4,900,000. Don't have to use spots 19, 20. Min Budget charged imputed to cap if use less than 18. Max budget charge is $612,500. 1. Zelarayan, M, 29, 6/20/92, 5'8", 154, Argentina & Armenia, DP, INT, $1,620,000/$1,985,000 (Thru '24, '25 O). 2. Nagbe, CM, 31, 7/19/90, 5'9", 165, USA/Liberia, DP, $1,710,000. 3. Zardes, F, 30, 9/2/91, 6'1", 187, USA, DP, $1,350,000/$1,400,000. 4. Mensah, D, 31, 7/13/90, 6'2", 183, Ghana, GC: $1,000,000/$1,140,667 5. Molino, M, 31, 6/17/90, 5'11", 145, Trinidad & Tobago, GC, $667,000. 6. Yeboah, M, 24, 3/28/97, 5'9", Ghana, INT#2, $612,00+, paid down TAM. Th '24, O '25 7. Santos, M, 33, 4/22/88, 5'6", 139, Portugal, INT#3: under DP threshold $$$$. ('23 O) 8. Degenek, D, 27, 4/28/94, 6'1", 182, Serbia & Australia, INT#4, approx $500k. Th '23, O '25 9. de Lima (Artur), CM, 25, 3/11/96, 5'11", 154, Brazil, GC: $480,000/$531,633 10. Room, GK, 32, 2/6/89, 6'3", 179, Curacao & NED, INT#5, $425,004/$479,698 ('24 O). 11. Moreira, D, 27, 8/13/94, 5'10", 159, France, INT#6, $350k/$432,708. 12. Matan, M, 22, 8/29/99, 5'5", 135, Romania, INT#7, U22, $375,000/$408,250 13. Diaz, M, 23, 12/6/98, 5'11", 159, Costa Rica, INT#8, $350,004/$383,904 14. Igbekeme, M, 26, 7/4/95, 5'7", 145, Nigeria, INT#9, $???. Loan Th '22, O2buy. 15. Williams, D, 33, 4/18/88, 6'2", 185, USA: $300,000/$302,500 16. Kitchen, DM, 29, 2/29/92, 6'0", 160, USA, $275,000/$301,667 17. Anibaba, CB, 33, 10/9/88, 6'0", 175, USA, $???. Th '22, O '23. 18. Bush, GK, 35, 3/6/86, 6'1", 187, USA, $???/$???, (thru '22, '23 opt). 19. Hairston, D/M, 27, 3/23/94, 6'0", 157, USA, $81,375. 20. Hurtado, F/W, 31, 11/15/90, 5'10", 174, USA $???. ('23 O). ----------------------- Bush is listed as Supp on MLS/Crew sites and Hairston made Senior Min last year. I also think Scott or Hurtado could be Sen Min guys. -------------------- II. Supplemtal Roster (21-24). Do not count towards salary cap. Must earn at least the Senior Min salary of $84,000. Can be: a) Senior Min players, b) Generation Addidas players, c) designated Superdtaft eligible players, or d) HGs/HGs earning more than the Sen Min subject to HG Player Subsidy. 21. Berry, F, 24, 9/16/97, 6'3", 180, Spain/USA, $85,444. 22. Schulte, GK, 20, 3/13/01, 6'5", 200, USA, $???. 23. Scott, GK, 22, 6/30/99, 6'2", 174, USA, $???. Th '22, O '23, '24. 24. Open (Hairston/Hurtado/Bush?) Hairston & Bush could be candidates for the Supplemental Roster. Hairston made Sen Min last year. Bush listed as Supp on MLS/Crew site. Maybe Scott as well as 3rd GK. ----------------------------- III. Supplemental/Reserve (25-28). 4 of 4. Must make at least the Reserve Min salary of $65,500. Can be: a) Reserve Min Players (24 or younger during league year), b) Homegrown Players earning more than Reserve Min subject to HG Player subsidy. 25. Morris, M, 20, 11/16/01, 5'10", 158, USA, HG, $145,000/$147,000. 26. Etienne Jr, M, 25, 11/25/96, 5'10", 160, Haiti/USA, HG, $125,000. 27. Parente, M, 21, 3/16/00, 5'9", USA, HG, $63,547. 28. Sands, D/M, 21, 7/6/00, 5'10", 150, USA, HG, $???. Th '22, O '23, '24. ------------------------ IV. Supplemental/Homegrown (29-30) Must be filled with HGs earning the Reserve Min salary or HGs earning more than the Reserve Min ($65,500) subject to HG Player Subsidy. 29. Zawadzki, M, 21, 4/21/00, 6'0", 160, USA, HG, $???. Th '23, O '24, '25. 30. J. Morris, D/M, 22, 3/3/99, 6'1/", 161, USA, HG, $????. Th '23, O '24, '25. ------------------------------- V. Designated Players: 3 of 3. Max Budget = $612,500. Secondary Window = $306,250. Young DP 21-21 = $200,000. 20 & under = $150k. Sec Window = $150k. Zelarayan, Nagbe, Zardes. Max Budget Charge = $622,500 (DP). Can be bought down with TAM if under $1.6125 mil. No mention of GAM buy down-ceiling. Charge if joins after 2nd window opens = $312,250. Young DP Budget Charge (23 or under) = $200,000. If 20 or under: $150,000. --------------------------- VI. U22 Initiative Players (1 of 3) Matan. You get 3 slots if 3rd DP unused or is under TAM buy-down threshold. Player can continue to occupy a U22 slot until age 25 as long as on 1st contract. MLS has Yeboah incorrectly here, as he is 24. ------------------- VII. Green Card Holders = 3 Mensah, de Lima (Artur), Molino. Santos rumored to get his soon. -------- IX. International Roster Spots: 9 of 8. Zelarayan, Santos, Room, Moreira, Degenek, Yeboah, Diaz, Matan, Igbekeme. MLS not currently counting Santos, Diaz, Moreira, or Igbekeme. ------------ X. HomeGrowns: 6. A. Morris, Etienne Jr., Parente, Sawadzki, J. Morris, Sands. ---------------- XI. Crew 2 1. Aidan Wolf, AM, Crew Academy, USA. 2. Michael Vang, M, 21, 5/13/00, 5'8", USA (Forward Madison). 3. Isaac Angking, DM, 22, 1/24/00, 5'10", Puerto Rico/USA (NER, Hartford Athletic, Charlotte Independence, US U17, US U20, PR NT). 4. Jay Tee Kamara, M, 19, 5/10/02, 5'3", Sierra Leone (Louisville City, North Carolina FC). 5. Noah Fuson, F, 22, 12/31/99, 6'1", USA (Forward Madison). -------------- Any corrections welcome.
And I'm not sure you can really claim Morris as a success of the academy. He's from Florida and was basically recruited and spent a couple years here in our academy. He was largely developed elsewhere.
Yep, don’t disagree. Crew 2 is gonna be 95% lower level filler it seems like, not sure why people are getting so pumped for it. It’s important in the long term, has jack shit going on in the short term.
Yeah, slim pickins initially. Re-reading the Crew 2 and MLS roster rules last weekend, the latter contains this line: There are other rules in the MLS roster guidelines that define how much loaned MLS players can be paid while on loan. These are short-term loans that have no effect the Crew's roster or salary budget situation. Anyway, at least until the roster freeze date (Sept. 2 for MLS; the Next Pro date hasn't been released yet), the most interesting thing about Crew 2 might be the handful of first team players who get "loaned" out to Crew 2, week by week, in order to get minutes. Guys like Schulte, Parente, Zawadzki, Jake Morris, maybe Sands (though our lack of LB depth may get him a seat on the subs bench all season) have very little chance of playing in an MLS game any time soon. Adding them to the Crew 2 mix makes those games somewhat more interesting to watch. Maybe???
Seems odd to have 4 GK’s on the main roster. I figured one would be signed to Crew2. Santos played fantastic on Saturday but maybe he wasn’t up against much opposition. He’ll need rest this season and it would be nice to see Sands start a game or two. He’ll need game experience before that happens though. Get him some Crew 2 time asap!
I rewatched the first 45 mins with an eye specifically on Degenek. Couple observations. - He got his head on two attacking opportunities which was a positive. -He got out muscled several times by #9 for Vancouver. Didn't look particularly strong in those moments. He got bodied a good amount. - He was more direct with his distribution than Mensah. That stats back that one up as well. - His pass at 19:55 was hopefully a case of what he can do.
Yeboah mentioned by the MLS site as one if 10 "Money well spent" acquisitions this year. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/money-well-spent-10-offseason-signing-standouts-in-mls-week-1
For sure. He's a load for anybody. It's MMA with him every week. That's his game. The proof is in the results; how many goals did he score?
Not sure where to put this, and not sure it deserves a new thread.... Can we maybe sign a goalkeeper, who after he's pinned to his line and beaten for a goal, that doesn't do that blank stare and fall in slow motion onto his ass and into the goal? What an irritating little personality trait.
Well, bad news, he just got a contract renewal lol. Two years guaranteed through 2023, with an option for 2024.