Earlier today, Major League Soccer released the roster profiles of every club in the league. The disclosure was a welcome surprise — MLS aren’t known for their transparency, and this sudden and unexpected data drop sheds some light on the category and contract status of every player signed as of May 1, 2024.
Some speculate that the roster release is in response to ongoing questions about players signed by Inter Miami CF. The club added several high-profile players in the past year, and questions remain how a team that now has Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Luis Suárez – players who reportedly made a combined $118 million before joining Miami – could possibly account for their payroll with the league’s salary cap of $5,470,000 plus $2.4 million in Targeted Allocation Money, more in tradable General Allocation Money, and sky’s-the-limit Designated Player slots.
The truth is, questions about Miami’s roster persist. According to the roster profiles, Messi, Busquets, and Leonardo Campana are the team’s Designated Players, and account for just over $2 million against the salary cap. But Alba, Suarez, Nicolás Freire, Julian Gressel, and Sergii Kryvtsov are TAM players, and add another $3.4 million. Somehow, Miami fit the remaining 12 players on the Senior Roster under the salary cap, presumably through a combination of GAM, U22 Initiatives, witchcraft, magical thinking, and baksheesh.
But enough about them. Let’s talk about New York City FC.
We combed through the NYCFC roster profile, and made the following five observations — and calculated the club’s available GAM this year.
1. Three U22s = good business
New York City are taking full advantage of the U22 Initiative, and using all three slots allowed to the club. They’re assigned to high-profile signings Julián Fernández (20), Jovan Mijatović (18), and Agustín Ojeda (19). Because the three are all 20 years old or younger, they account for just $150,000 each against the salary cap. That’s $450,000 total.
Fernández and Ojeda are already having a positive impact, with three goals and two assists between them. Their combined five goal involvements account for almost half of the team’s 11 goals this season.
2. TAM, U22s, DPs
TAM and DP slots account for the same $683,750 hit on the salary cap. A Young Designated Player ages 21-23 accounts for $200,000. New York City’s four TAM players, two DPs, and one Young DP come out to a salary cap hit of $4,302,500.
Add the three U22s, and you have a salary cap hit of $4,752,500 for 10 players. That leaves $717,500 for the remaining 10 players on the Senior Roster before factoring in GAM.
3. About that GAM
Every club is allocated $2,585,000 in GAM. It’s a commodity that can be traded — New York City will receive $50,000 in GAM from DC United for Cody Mizell after he signed on to be goalkeepers coach, and $200,000 from Columbus for Malte Amundsen. In addition, New York City could get $50,000 in GAM from Seattle Sounders for trading the College Protected Period Priority of Braudilio Rodriguez if performance benchmarks are met.
New York City will send $350,000 in GAM to Philadelphia Union for Andrés Perea (plus another $300,000 in 2025). That gives New York City a GAM budget of approximately $2,485.000.
A club will also earn GAM if they don’t make the playoffs, although the official rules don’t specify an amount.
In fact, MLS makes a point of obscuring the GAM available to each club. In the words of the league, “To protect the interests of MLS and its clubs during discussions with prospective players or clubs in other leagues, amounts of Allocation Money currently held by each club will not be shared publicly. Only in the case of a trade will the amount of General Allocation Money involved be made public.”
That puts us in the position of speculating about sums that are easily accessible to the league.
New York City FC 2024 GAM Tracker
| Transaction | Amount |
|---|---|
| Starting GAM | $2,585,000 |
| Miss MLS Cup Playoffs | Unknown |
| Transfer: Malte Amundsen | $200,000 |
| Transfer: Cody Mizell | $50,000 |
| Transfer: Andrés Perea | -$350,000 |
| Transfer: Gabriel Pereira | $0* |
| Transfer: Taty Castellanos | $1,215,506* |
| Total | $3,700,506* |
*Estimate
A club can convert a percentage of a transfer fee if a U22 player signs with a non-MLS club, and if that player was originally acquired for a transfer fee lower than $5 million — the amount of GAM depends on the acquisition cost of the player.
Both Taty Castellanos and Gabriel Pereira were U22 players who transferred outside of the league, but if the reported $5 million fee to sign Pereira is to be believed, New York City won’t gain any GAM from his sale. Castellanos is a different matter, and his transfer to SS Lazio should add $1,215,506 to New York City’s GAM.
Gotta love that extra $506.
According to our back-of-the-envelope math, New York City have at least $3,700,506 in GAM, depending on what missing the playoffs gives them. That works out to $4,418,006 left to spend on the 10 remaining players on the Senior Roster.
4. The DPs can’t be bought down
None of New York City’s DPs are eligible to be bought down with TAM. That is, none of them can be converted to a regular Senior Roster player in order to free up a DP slot. If NYCFC are to bring in another DP, they’ll first need to transfer one of the three currently on the roster.
4. Keep the core intact
Only two players on the Senior Roster have contracts that end in 2024, backup goalkeeper Luis Barraza, and injured midfielder Maxi Moraelz.
The remaining 18 players are with New York City for longer. Seven players are signed through 2025, and all of them have options for additional years. Another five are signed through 2026, and all have options except for Talles Magno. Four are signed through 2027, and two through 2028.
This roster is a long-term project. To go by the contracts, it’s designed to start cooking this year, hit its stride in 2025, and carry that pace through to 2026.
By then there will be more transfers in and out of the club, additions to the core that’s developing today. In all likelihood, that’s because the real long-term goal of the front office is to build squad that will contend for the title in 2027, when New York City open their new stadium in Queens.
