The Major League Soccer Players Union releases player salaries twice a year and it always makes for good statistics and headlines.
While the numbers the Players Union release aren't always perfectly accurate, for the most part it gives a good view of who makes what and what teams are spending big or not. Some players are listed lower than their actual salary for a variety of reasons, but teams stay quiet on this matter so this remains hazy.
It's also important to note that these salaries are not what the player costs against the cap. Transfer fees factor into a player's cap hit and are among the other costs that aren’t included in the salaries listed.
With that in mind, today the MLSPU dropped the salary numbers, dated April 15, 2017. Here are some of the interesting notes on the salaries:
- The big news from a Chicago Fire standpoint is that Bastian Schweinsteiger's $5.4 million salary is seventh-highest in the league and is a big reason why the Fire moved from 20th to fourth in payroll since the last time the Players Union released salaries. By the time the numbers were released last September, the Fire had already shed designated players Gilberto and Kennedy Igboananike. Those two combined to make just over $2 million, which would have put the Fire just outside the top 10 in the league rankings.
- Schweinsteiger makes more than the listed payrolls of four teams (Minnesota, D.C., Montreal and Houston). Montreal was the biggest drop in payroll in terms of rank (eighth to 21st) with Didier Drogba ($2,116,667) coming off the books. The LA Galaxy shed the most amount of money from a year ago, just over $6 million, with Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard coming off the books.
- Schweinsteiger is the fourth-highest paid midfielder.
Jorge Bava ($267,133) is sixth-highest paid among goalkeepers. Last year's Fire starter, Sean Johnson ($220,008), is ninth.
Chicago Fire
Nemanja Nikolic ($1,906,333) is the seventh-highest paid forward. David Accam ($820,937.50) is 15th and Michael de Leeuw ($564,212.50) is 25th.
Johan Kappelhof ($570,000) is ninth among defenders.
- Among returning Fire players, Luis Solignac has the biggest listed raise. He had his option declined by the Fire in the offseason, but still re-signed, implying that the option was for more than what he ended up signing for. Solignac's listed guaranteed compensation went from $85,000 to $328,312.
- The next biggest percentage raise is Jonathan Campbell, who went from $78,125 as a rookie to $109,875 this year. This is a bit ironic considering Campbell has already been on the bench more this season than in all of 2016, when he led the team in minutes played.
- Homegrown player Djordje Mihailovic is the highest-paid among the rookies, coming in at $80,000.
Here are the players listed as making $2 million or more:
Kaka (Orlando): $7,167,500.00
Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto): $7,115,555.67
Michael Bradley (Toronto): $6,500,000.00
Andrea Pirlo (NYCFC): $5,915,690.00
David Villa (NYCFC): $5,610,000.00
Gio Dos Santos (LA): $5,500,000.00
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Fire): $5,400,000.00
Jozy Altidore (Toronto): $4,875,000.00
Clint Dempsey (Seattle): $3,892,933.50
Diego Valeri (Portland): $2,607,500.00
Tim Howard (Colorado): $2,475,000.00
Miguel Almiron (Atlanta): $2,297,000.00
Maxi Moralez (NYCFC): $2,000,000.04
For more number nerdiness, Jonathan Tannenwald has some league-wide numbers and charts at Philly.com. He has the MLS average salary at $326,319.23 and the median salary at $135,002.