News: 2022 - DCU Club Discussion and Analysis

D.C. United is trading wing back Julian Gressel to Vancouver Whitecaps for up to $900,000 in general allocation money, sources say. Probably the first of several #dcu moves in coming weeks. #mls

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) July 15, 2022

 

Oh my, great move! I like him, but he was NOT worth the salary.

 

There's another Goff tweet saying Rooney is very high on Jackson Hopkins, and it appears the team will be playing a 4-2-3-1 going forward, which would leave Gressel without a position.

 

Glad you found out 2 min after I did… https://t.co/WnieExxGVo

— Julian Gressel (@JulianGressel) July 15, 2022

 

There's also reporting in The Athletic that Lingard isn't going to come to MLS and will either stay in the EPL or go chase that sweet sweet Saudi money.

 

Whitecaps sending $400k to DCU this season, $200k next season and up to $300k (presumably spread out) based on Gressel appearances.

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) July 15, 2022

 

All the more reason to hate the front office... Give a guy some warning, FFS

 

Sucks for Gressel he doesn't get to play against Bayern now. But sports business is rough and I doubt DC could wait a week on that deal.

 

On the basis of stats alone Gressel was our most efffective player. I'm surprised we didn't get more for him. OTOH, Hopkins is a real talent, and much younger.

 

Julian always played for the shirt with passion and for that I will remember his time at DCU fondly.

I'm happy for him that when he was at Atlanta he thought he was worth more and he found a team (ours) that was willing to pay him more. But in the salary capped league, I don't think we ever got the value for what we were paying him.

As long as we aren't picking up any of his salary after this year, this is a good move by the team. He is one of our only tradable assets and getting GAM for him is exactly what they should be doing.

Best wishes to you Julian.

 

Where do I go to get a primer on GAM, TAM, and all the other MLS-specific financing schemes that substitute for pure cash money?

 

Thin air.

 

420 5th Ave, NY, NY

It's only available as a lecture series since it changes constantly.

 

https://www.mlssoccer.com/about/roster-rules-and-regulations


General Allocation Money
Each club receives an annual allotment of General Allocation Money. In 2022, that allotment is $1,625,000 per club.

A club may also receive General Allocation Money in the following cases:

• Failure to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs
• The transfer of a club’s player to non-MLS club outside MLS
• Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions League
• Expansion Clubs (see below)
• Expansion Dilution (see below)
• Designated Player charge distribution

In any year that the League adds one or more expansion clubs, (i) all clubs will receive an equal amount of General Allocation Money and (ii) any club that loses a player in the Expansion Draft will receive additional General Allocation Money. New expansion clubs receive a separate amount of General Allocation Money for their inaugural season.

General Allocation Money can be traded by clubs.

Buy-Down
Allocation Money can be used to "buy-down" a player's Salary Budget Charge as part of managing a club's roster, including buying down a Salary Budget Charge below the League maximum of $612,500. For example, a club may buy down a player earning $700,000 to a Salary Budget Charge of $500,000 by using $200,000 of General Allocation Money.

General Allocation Money can also be applied in the following circumstances:

• To sign players new to MLS (that is, a player who did not play in MLS during the previous season).
• To re-sign an existing MLS player.
• To off-set acquisition costs (loan and transfer fees).
• In connection with the extension of a player's contract for the second year provided the player was new to MLS in the immediately prior year.
• To reduce the Salary Budget Charge of a Designated Player to a limit of $150,000.
• To reduce the Salary Budget Charge of a Player whose Salary Budget Charge exceeds the Maximum Salary Budget Charge to a limit of $150,000.

Use against a Salary Budget Charge
A club cannot use General Allocation Money to reduce more than 50% of a player's Salary Budget Charge. This restriction does not apply where General Allocation Money is being used on a loan or transfer fee; a club may reduce 100% of a loan or transfer fee.

Targeted Allocation Money Available Per Year

• 2022: $2,800,000 per club
• 2023: $2,720,000 per club
• 2024: $2,400,000 per club
• 2025: $2,225,000 per club
• 2026: $2,125,000 per club
• 2027: $2,025,000 per club

Targeted Allocation Money may be used in the following ways:

• Clubs may use the funds to sign a new player provided his salary and acquisition costs are more than the Maximum Salary Budget Charge.
• Clubs may re-sign an existing player provided he is earning more than the Maximum Salary Budget Charge.
• Clubs may use all or a portion of the available Targeted Allocation Money to convert a Designated Player to a non-Designated Player (assuming such player’s Salary Budget Charge meets the salary parameters described below) by buying down his Salary Budget Charge at or below the Maximum Salary Budget Charge. If Targeted Allocation Money is used to free up a Designated Player slot, the club must simultaneously sign a new Designated Player or U22 Initiative Slot player, subject to League approval.
• A club retains the flexibility to convert a player previously bought down with Targeted Allocation Money into a Designated Player if that club has a free Designated Player slot.
• Clubs may use up to $200,000 of currently approved Targeted Allocation Money to sign new Homegrown Players to their first MLS contract. It cannot be used on Homegrown Players previously signed to MLS.

Targeted Allocation Money may not be traded.

 

*Exclusions apply.

 

We are presumably using some version of TAM/GAM on the following players who have salaries above the maximum salary budget charge of $612,500 but are not listed as designated players:

Ola Kamara Salary $1.5 million
Bill Hamid Salary $700,000
Julian Gressel* Salary $914,000
Steven Birnbaum Salary $750,000

*just traded

 

I'll wait and see who they replace him with, because we've seen players like Moreno and Felipe go and not replaced. If they go with Hopkins and spend that money on another area of need, I guess that's okay. If they spend the money on Ravel Morrison and Hopkins goes back to the bench, no, that's going backwards imo.

 

Formal Rumors found above.

 

I'll miss Gressel. I'm not saying this is a bad move, it's probably the right thing for us financially speaking. I just don't have faith in our ability to identify quality players so when we sell off one of our best players my fear is that we will go out and get a Flores type player that just stinks.

 

In any system with a 3 back, Gressel is a DP. In any system with a 4 back, he's surplus to requirements. I love Gressel, but I also love this trade, assuming it's been done with intent, which is a big assumption.

 

The official terms of the deal:

$400k GAM this year. $200k GAM in 2023. $300k GAM in 2024, assuming Gressel makes at least three MLS appearances between 2022-2023.

 

Pablo says DC almost signed Tom Lawrence to a DP deal worth $2.5M a year, but he decided to take less money to play at Rangers.

Source tells me that DC United came very, very close to signing Derby County's Tom Lawrence — offering him some $2.5m a year. Deal was nearly over the line when the player chose to play at Rangers, instead, for less money. #DCU #MLS

— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) July 15, 2022

Also, the Ravel Morrison deal is all but done.

Ravel Morrison, sources tell me, arrives in D.C. today. Club and player have agreed to terms, but deal isn't done yet — 2.5 year deal, 1.5 years guaranteed with a club option for the last year.

Salary number is around $850k per year, source familiar with negotiations tells me.

— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) July 15, 2022

Here's an Athletic article from Pablo on Morrison:

https://theathletic.com/3426535/2022/07/15/dc-united-ravel-morrison/

 

Tom Lawrence? Was John Smith available instead?

 

As a Man Utd supporter, i am really happy about this deal.

Ravel is a supremely skillful midfielder. Probably going to eithet play no. 10 or no. 8 next to Durkin.

 

I'm not saying Morrison isn't worth $850,000, but I can't reconcile these two facts from what Pablo wrote:

* four goals over 36 total appearances at Darby.

* D.C. are prepared to pay Morrison somewhere in the neighborhood of $850,000 a year, some three times what he was making at Derby County.

He gets a three-fold pay raise for scoring one goal every 9 games? Robertha's going to demand more than a million.