That nobody has asked about Matan and why we haven’t offered him a contract etc…. Because if your not why haven’t we traded him or sold him etc… Just letting him walk away on a free after how he played last year and not talking about the reasoning behind not extending him is very odd to me. Also he is not a free agent in MLS because we will still hold his rights up until the contract expires. So if he doesn’t sign a contract somewhere outside MLS that will give us leverage in contract negotiations. However if he leaves we get absolutely nothing in return. So the fact we not hearing trade rumors within MLS or just absolutely nothing about it is just different. It’s not like he is Hughes or some 3rd string kid who never plays. He started 27 games last year for a MLS CUP championship team.
Small point, but Matan will not be a free agent in MLS after this season. He’ll have not played enough seasons in the league to qualify for free agent status. Right now, players need five years in MLS to become a free agent, and Matan was signed in 2021. The number drops to four years starting in 2026, but that won’t help Matan.
The guy is clearly on a contract year where his performance is going to dictate a new offer or not. It isn't looking good so far. If he rounds out the year back on pace from last year, he probably gets a new contract. If not, we aren't going to get much for him and it is what it is. We did the same with Luis Diaz and are not going to hit on all of these $1-$4 Million dollar youth signings. That is reality of MLS in 2024.
He started the year hurt, which I think is playing a major factor in the possible stance Nancy and the FO.are taking now and maybe even Matan himself. He needs to start performing at his best to get a new contact with us. I would imagine we dont want to insult him with a low-ball offer and that giving him a chance to get back to his best would be ideal for both parties.
His is a free agent outside of MLS according to FIFA. Inside MLS there is a designation between UFA and RFA.
I get that but not asking the player or the club about the situation seems strange. Even if they give generic answers it’s better than ignoring the elephant in the room. Also it’s good if either side say something positive.
You, I and everyone on this board know we will get zero information on forthcoming contract discussions. You are asking a question that will not get a response.
It cannot be answered because how he plays from here will determine what happens. It is a question without an answer. Which is why it isn't being asked. It isn't an elephant.
Why poke the bear when at best you get no answer and at worst you start getting a cold shoulder from FO and player. Besides, when is Matan ever available to the media. They showed him getting on the plane today smiling and such. I'm guessing he starts tonight vs a relatively young (aside from Gressel, Sergio Biscuits, and Alba) Miami lineup
Idk I’m thinking simple question maybe not exactly direct about contract negotiations. A simple would you like to be in Columbus next year ? Just to see if his response is somewhat positive or negative. Alex Mățan played a lot last year but has fought through some early injuries. Is he a player you would like to see stay here in Columbus ? Obviously they aren’t going to tell us everything but just from an answer you can tell if it’s a possibility.
FFS. Here are your answers: FO: Alex is a valued member of our team who started on an MLS Cup winning team, and contributed mightily to our CCC run despite battling through injuries. We value him as a player and as a person, and think he will be a valuable contributor for us the 2nd half of the season. Which is our focus right now. Thank you. Matan: Yes, I have had a great time here and won a championship and almost another. Which is my focus at the moment. Helping the team win in any way I can. I am not really thinking about my contract at this time. Thanks.
Elena Matan: You dare approach me with your pathetic questions, worm? I am twice the woman you could ever satisfy with your puny pants weasel. Go detail my car.
Cincy has put in a bid for Weston McKennie. Improve this roster or fall further behind. What was good enough last season is no longer sufficient.
Welcome, Mr Bosche, have a seat and a nice bottle of wine. Then you can diddle our women while we round up the Jews for you. - Marshall Petain
With Aidan leaving the building and Chambost not eligible yet, our salary structure looks thusly: Guaranteed Salary: DP (3): Rossi, Cucho, Nagbe TAM (1): Moreira (Chambost?) $600k+: Yeboah $500k+: Hinestroza ($200k cap), Cheberko, Camacho. $400k+: Ramirez, Matan ($200k cap), Zawadzki $300k+: Amundsen, Farsi, Jones ----------------- Vet Min/Off Budget: Bush, Hagen -------------- Off Budget/Supplemental: Schulte, Sands, JRR, Arfsten, Jackson, Habroune, Mrowka, Hughes. If I am gonna gripe about anyone being paid above their contribution/cap hit is is gonna be Yeboah. Though, to be fair, we have done an excellent job in this regard.
Next year Schulte will be getting paid much better. Yeboah we will have to decide on his option for 25. I think he has done well to learn LWB but both the player and the Club would benefit if he moved on. 651,250 is the DP number ? but you can buy down. I would assume we give Schulte 600K+
The DP number/max salary budget charge is $683,750 this season. Next year, it climbs to $743,750. The overall salary budget climbs dramatically in the last few years of the CBA. The DP number always equals 12.5% of the base Team Salary Budget. As that goes up, so too does the DP number. It’ll be $803,125 in 2026 and $883,438 in 2027.
Allmost all options in MLS are team options, not player. Yeboah won't be deciding on his option. The Crew will..
Regrettably, Morris is off the roster. Good luck at 'Boro, Aidan! They are getting a good one. In terms of options, which I am fairly certain are all team options, the list for '25 is: Yeboah, Ramirez, Amundsen, Schulte, Hagen, Sands, JRR, Arfsten, Jackson, Hughes. Out of contract: Matan, Bush. The roster was beautifully constructed to contend thru 2025. Now we have a hole, though not an unexpected one, as Morris' move was in the works for a while. I. Senior Roster (1-20). 15 of 20. Counts vs the salary budget of $5,470,000. Max salary budget charge is $683,750. Teams not required to fill spots 19 & 20. A minimum salary budget charge is imputed vs the club for unfilled spots below 18. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2024-mls-roster-rules-and-regulations Rank, Player, Pos, Age, DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$, Guar $$ 1. Diego Rossi, WF, 25, 3/5/98, 5'7", 143, DP, GC, Uruguay, $2,675,000, $3,376,827. Thru '26, '27 O. 2. Cucho Hernandez, CF, 24, 4/20/99, 5'9', 161. Colombia, DP,#2, INT#1, $2,600,000, $2,886,000. Thru '25. O in '26. 3. Darlington Nagbe, CM, 33, 7/19/90, 5'9", 165, USA/Liberia, DP#3, $1.4 mil, $1.54 mil. Thru '25. O '26. 4. Steven Moreira, D, 29, 8/13/94, 5'10", 159, France/Cape Verde Islands, INT#2, $800k, $882k. Thru '25, O '26. 5. Dylan Chambost, MF, 26, 8/19/97, 5'10", 154, France, INT#4, $???. Thru '26, '27 O. 6. Yaw Yeboah, M, 26, 3/28/97, 5'9", 154, Ghana, INT#3, $600k, $663,750. Th '24, O '25. 7. Marino Hinestroza, AM/W, 21, 7/8/02, 5'7", 132, Colombia, U22, INT#4, $500k, $574,750. Thru '26, O '27. 8. Yevhen Cheberko, CB, 25, 1/23/98, 6'0", 166, Ukraine, INT#5, $505k, $553,250. Thru '26 (June). O for remainder of '26. 9. Rudy Camacho, CB, 32, 3/5/91, 6'1", 174, France, INT#6, $475k, $551k. Thru '25. 10. Christian Ramirez, F, 32, 4/4/91, 6'2", 187, USA, $450k, $495,833. Thru '24, '25 O. 11. Alexandru Matan, M, 24, 8/29/99, 5'5", 135, Romania, U22, INT#7, $450k, $483,250. Thru '24. 12. Sean Zawadzki, M, 23, 4/21/00, 6'0", 160, USA, HG, $375k, $421,875. Thru '27. 13. Malte Amundsen, WB, 25, 2/11/98, 5'10", 179, Denmark, $360k, $398,700. Thru '24, O '25. Not INT. Green Card? 14. Mohamed Farsi, D/M, 23, 12/16/99, 5'10", Canada, INT#8, $350k, $380k, Thru '27, O '28. 15. Derrick Jones, DM/CB, HG, 26, 3/3/97, 6'4", 176, Ghana/USA, $325k, $347,969. Thru '25, '26 O. ------------------ 17. Open (Bush) 18. Open (Hagen) 19. Open 20. Open ----------------------- II. Supplemental Roster (21-30) (8 of 10) Does NOT count versus the salary budget of any team. All Generation Adidas players are Supplemental Players during the initial guaranteed term of their contract. A. Spots 21-24. (Supplemental). 4 of 4. All players in Slots 21-24 must make a base salary at least equal to the Senior Minimum Salary ($89,716 in 2024). These slots may be filled with: Senior Min players ($89,716) which may include: i) Gen Adidas, ii) designated Superdraft eligible players, or iii) Homegrown players who may or may not earn more than Sen Min due to the HG Subsidy. Players in slots 21-24 must make at least $89,716 Rank, Player, Pos, Age, DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$/Guar $$ 21. Patrick Schulte, GK, 22, 3/13/01, 6'5", 200, USA, GA, $150k, $160,603. Thru '24 + O for '25. 22. Evan Bush, GK, 37, 3/6/86, 6'1", 187, USA, $89,716, $89,716. Thru '24. Sen El. 23. Nicholas Hagan, GK, 27, 8/2/96, 6'4", 176, Guatemala/USA. $89,716, $100,340. Thru '24, O thru '26. Senior Eligible. 24. Will Sands, D/M, 23, 7/6/00, 5'10",150, USA, HG, $125k, $131,250 Thru '24, O '25. Bush & Hagen are Senior Min guys who could be Senior or Supplemental. But we have them Supplemental at the moment. --------------------- B. Slots 25-30. (Reserve). 4 of 6. Must be paid a base salary of at least the Reserve Min salary ($71,401). Must be 24 years of age or younger during the league year (by year of birth). May be filled with Reserve Min players ($71,401) which may include GA's earning Reserve Min, HGs, or HG's earning more than Reserve Min via the HG subsidy. Cannot be filled with Sen Min Players (unless a HG earning more via HG subsidy). Rank, Player, Pos, Age,DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$/Guar $$ 25. Jacen Russell-Rowe, CF, 21, 9/13/02, 6'0", 161, Canada, HG, $89,716, $97,105. Thru '24, O '25-'6. 26. Max Arfsten, F/W, 22, 4/19/01, 6'1", 172, USA, $71,401, $73,246. Thru '24. O '25/'26 27. Aziel Jackson, MF, 22, 10/25/01, 5'9", 154, USA, HG, $98,261/$102,243. Thru '24, O in '25. 28. Taha Habroune, M, 17, 2/5/06, 5'8", 168, USA, HG. $71,401, $83,401. Thru '27, O '28. ----------- 29. Mrowka, MF, 17, 4/6/06, ??, ??, USA, HG. $71,401, $93,409. Thru '26. TO '27 & '28. ----------- 30. Open (Hughes loan) HG subsidy is $125,000 per year in aggregate. Plus $200k of GAM/TAM can be used to sign HGs to their 1st contract. ------------- III. International Players (9 of 10) Each team gets 8, we traded with Seattle for +2. Hernandez, Moreira, Matan, Farsi, Yeboah, Cheberko, Camacho, Hinestroza, Chambost. Again, the Amundsen mystery remains. But he firmly is NOT an INT. New verbiage for 2024, do NOT need a Green Card. "For a player to be considered a Domestic Player in the applicable season, residency must be established, or the player has to have appeared for an immigrant visa interview by the opening of the Secondary Transfer Window." https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-...new-sporting-initiatives-ahead-of-2024-season And we traded for +2 INT spots with Seattle. https://www.columbuscrew.com/news/c...onal-roster-slots-via-trade-with-seattle-soun ------------ IV. Green Card Holders/Counts as Domestic (3). Rossi (Green Card). JRR (International HG Rule). Hagan (USA parent/ passport). Amundsen does not count as an INT for reasons I do not understand. But he does not have a GC either as far as I know. I could be wrong about that. ------------ V. U22 Initiative Slots (2 of 3) If a team has an open DP slot, or the 3rd DP mafes under the max TAM buydown level ($1 mil over max budget charge), or is a young DP, a team has 3 U22 slots. Otherwise, they have 1. 1. Matan 2. Hinestroza 3. Open U22 players count $200k vs the budget if the are aged 22-25. $150k is 21 or younger. U22 players must be on their initial MLS contract unless they are HGs (2nd), and must sign it before turning 22. Can continue to occupy the slot until the year they turn 25. Salary cannot exceed Max Budget unless it is a HG/Superdraft on 2nd contract, who can earn Max Budget +$200k. Clubs may pay acquisition costs without limit (out of pocket, no GAM/TAM). ----------------- VI. Loaned Out (1) 1. Keegan Hughes, D, 23, 7/22/00, 6'3", 190, USA, HG, $89,716, $89,716. Thr '24, O in '25/'26. ------------- Again, fill me in on my screw-ups.