Though last year we listed Afrifa as on the left. Though more left off the bench. I had forgotten the other alleged right wing, thommy. God, we were not a good team. Last year, we had half a dozen vastly overpaid players. Radoja and Shelton were the most egregious, but Thommy's $1.6m was too much and Fernandez at $1m and Leibold at $926,000 sure seemed like highway robbery. Then both Rosero (who was recently still listed on the MLS emergency player list, so WTF actually happened there? We didn't cut him, just sent him away?) and Voloder at $550,000 didn't seem like bargains. We still maintain Salloi at $1.3m and Shapi at $915,000. But only two seems like smart business.
Also, Doyle, in a newsletter, is guessing at team leftover GAM and suggested we're carrying over $900,000 or so, though says it's unknowable
And if that's true it's more reason why his thought we'd go 3/3 is misguided. This team needs help everywhere and the extra $2m in GAM you get from the 2/4 would come in so much more handy.
A second Inga update today. Súper avanzado el traspaso de César Inga al Kansas de la MLS. Hoy se mejoraron varias condiciones y hay un camino que se debe hacer mañana para formalizar todo. https://t.co/kYgIE66Iee— Gustavo Peralta Coello (@Gustavo_p4) January 15, 2026
I know TM rates him at $1,7 million (1.5m euro), but the club bought him last january for $53,000. If we do pay the more than a million price, it's very good business
So if we carry over $900,000 and get $2.3m plus still some tam, right, like $2m, plus the 2/4 Gsm we have $7m plus to complete this roster
So looking around today and I was off. The GAM/TAm thing is too complicated, but basically GAM is increasing each year while TAM is decreasing. But they seem to total about $5million a year. So, SKC carries over, according to Doyle, about $900,000, which has to be used within three windows of when it was given, so either now or this summer. Plus we get the $150,000 bonus for suckitude. Plus the $2 million bonus for going 2 dps and 4 u-22s, not 3 and 3. So, just from the extra buckets, we have $8 million available, right? There are almost certainly other add-ons, but they tend to be smallish. The regular budget is a bit more than $6 million (in 2025, it was $5.95m) So, based on the league rules and the MLSPA salaries of our players, we know that our two DPs hit the roster at $803,000 (the new max). We also know that Salloi and Shapi have to be bought down to at least that amount, but can be bought down to (in 2025) $150,000. I'm not sure it matters as it is all available for salaries, so let's subtract $2m from the allocation pile, and reduce the overall budget by $2.2m for those four. That leaves $4m general and $6million allocation for the other 14 to 16 senior roster players. Among those we still have around, those who will likely be on the senior roster total a budget hit of $1.3m for another six lilely to be on the senior roster. So, for 8 to 10 senior players, we have $2.7m general and $6m in TAM/GAM to spend.
Aún no está cerrado lo de César Inga al Kansas City que oferta bastante bien en lo económico. También apareció la opción del Watford de Inglaterra y es importante. Sin embargo, desde el entorno del jugador señalan que lo del equipo de la MLS está mejor posicionado en este momento… https://t.co/8TBitPWvIi— Gustavo Peralta Coello (@Gustavo_p4) January 16, 2026 Apparently Watford (and Udinese) have come in late to try to hijack the deal. But a lot of that screams agent/Universitario talk to try to get more money.
FWIW, in Europe they’re not saying Watford has made a bid. 💛🖤 Watford have added Cesar Inga to a list of LB being considered for January. Before any move is made, the club need to consider the placement of homegrown spots in the team. Morris' exit to Leyton Orient depends on #WatfordFC signing a replacement, as per previous report. pic.twitter.com/iZRWyY1aDa— Luca Bendoni (@LucaBendoni) January 16, 2026
The busy night of news continues: CONFIRMADO: César Inga jugará en el Kansas City de la MLS. ➡️ Universitario de Deportes acordó la venta del polifuncional jugador por una cifra bastante importante. Todo cerrado de club a club. pic.twitter.com/Zq0QWycT8U— Gustavo Peralta Coello (@Gustavo_p4) January 17, 2026
Fingers crossed! I don't know the reliability of the gentleman breaking that news, but I'll assume it's a good sign.
ESPN in Peru is saying it's done. https://www.espn.com.pe/futbol/peru...jugador-de-sporting-kansas-city-universitario
Nice. Okay, that's one new starter (unless I underestimate previous signings). Another outside back and a center back will come soon, with a dmid, we hope.
So my thoughts in Inga have shifted... He came on for Universitario today in a friendly. Which I doubt he'd do if a deal was imminent.
So we've got almost exactly a month. We need to start signing people. OTOH, they should be the right people
An evening update on the fact he played. The team/coach is taking the stance that until the deal is done he's their player and that's why he played. Now why he didn't say no (not knowing what he can/can't do? It says they couldn't get a hold of his agent so he may not have known any better). https://www.futbolperuano.com/liga-...stoso-de-universitario-frente-a-melgar-560515
So this is a manager who is angry that the club is selling one of his best players. It's the sort of situation where he's probably hoping for a turned ankle that will kill the deal, but leave the player availble for most of the season. Sheesh. Okay, so if the transfer is as much as $1.6m, and we're going to offer say tops $450,000 a year in salary, that means SKC needs at least four years in the deal to keep it within the max budget hit, right? So maybe the problem is a 3 versus (player-centric) a 5 (club and cap centric) year offer?
So, just wondering if now is still too soon to panic? One month from today, we visit San Jose and start playing games for real. And our starting side will be ...
If Buzz, the voice of calmness and reason on this board, is more than a little anxious, then the rest of us should be running around like Chicken Little.
I mean, I would love a happy day of five new starters being signed, and then a trickle of depth etc. But everyone else is filling in the corners. Miami is a beast of a side, on Soccerwise one said "I'd say, without reservation, better than last season" and other said, "without a doubt. They turned their weaknesses into strengths, and kept their strengths." LAFC and Seattle and LAG and San Diego and Vancouver all look better than last year. SKC? We still need at least 11 new players.
"Everyone" isn't. The best teams, but we're not the only ones who haven't, St. Louis has done about, maybe a little more, than us, RSL hasn't done much at all, etc. Just with so many teams in the league there's news every day so it feels like it.
I have resigned myself to the club sucking this year. There's just too many moving parts, too many new people in key leadership roles and too few players available for it click this season. Honestly though, I am OK with that. The organizational change and decentralizing the power dynamic was an excellent first step in getting this club back on track. But its the sale of the club to someone with ambition that has me optimistic about the direction of this club again for the first time in at least 5 years. Mike Burns and David Lee both inspire confidence. I'm agnostic on Wiki, but the coaching staff that has been brought in to support him 1) actually has coaches and 2) is full of solid candidates (especially happy with Dominic Kinnear as an assistant). Get him or not, being linked to a player like Cesar Inga is a sign of intent in how the roster will be rebuilt. He was linked with Napoli recently. He plays for Peru. We all knew it was going to take years to deconstruct the structure that was built around PV. It seems like that has happened. The roster reconstruct will also take time. But most importantly, the ownership will no longer be happy with being mediocre. I have very low expectations for this season, because how could you feel otherwise looking at the roster. That said, I'd give it a year, and SKC might actually be a decent club again. I think we can finally say "in three transfer windows" SKC might be a professional soccer club again. And its been many years since we could say that.