Breaking down FC Cincinnati's salary numbers for the 2023 season
FC Cincinnati is getting considerable bang for its buck when it comes to on-field personnel expenditures under General Manager Chris Albright.
The latest reveal of Major League Soccer salary information by the Major League Soccer Players Association (MLSPA) shed light Tuesday on the some of the costs associated with making FC Cincinnati a viable contender for multiple trophies in 2023, including the fact that FCC is No. 15 out of 29 clubs in MLS in roster spending.
FCC in 2022 was 12th in roster spend out of the league's 28 teams.
As of Tuesday, FC Cincinnati was preparing for a Wednesday match that, with a win, could result in the club leading the Supporters Shield race even as many clubs out-spend FCC around MLS. That means that, for the second consecutive year, it's clear from the MLSPA data that FC Cincinnati is making wiser investments and getting more for what it's spending.
What these numbers mean
Before we dissect FC Cincinnati's personnel expenditures, it's important to introduce this caveat: What MLSPA revealed Tuesday was a dump of raw numbers with very little context.
This data definitely doesn't account for how FC Cincinnati and other clubs navigate the league's salary cap, which this season is set at $5,210,000, or how it applies roster-building aids such as general allocation money, or "GAM," and targeted allocation money, or "TAM."
The numbers also don't fully account for how the club is spending its money as it doesn't give the complete picture of club expenditures, including transfer fees, finders' fees for agents, and so on.
As it had in the past, MLSPA revealed players' current annualized base salary along with annual average guaranteed compensation, which includes a player's base salary and all signing and guaranteed bonuses annualized over the term of the player's contract, including option years.
All this is to say regarding the MLSPA salary guide: It's useful tool for measuring spending from team to team, but there's still more to understand.
Breaking down FCC's roster spend
The MLSPA's twice-annual dump of salary information for all the league's players revealed FC Cincinnati has six players earning seven-figures in terms of guaranteed compensation. FC Cincinnati had rostered six seven-figure earners in the past but received significantly less productivity from those players.
This year, at 9-1-3 overall and with the club rolling along in both the MLS regular season and the U.S. Open Cup, it's hard for the casual fan to argue much with where and how much FCC is spending its money.
Luciano Acosta, Brenner Souza da Silva, Matt Miazga, Obinna Nwobodo and Yuya Kubo all pulled down base salary figures above $1 million, and Brandon Vazquez's total compensation surpassed the million-dollar threshold.
The full scope of the contract extension Vazquez signed in summer 2022 also came into clearer view. After starting the 2022 season with $304,167 in total compensation, he now earns $1,041,000, which is more in-line with a player of his caliber.
The top earners
Brenner is FC Cincinnati's highest-paid player with a guaranteed compensation of $2,218,6000, although Brenner will depart FCC for a now-confirmed transfer move to Udinese of the Italian top flight. Also, Acosta is the midst or renegotiating his contract, which could vault him ahead of Brenner's salary figures.
For now, even Brenner doesn't crack the top 20 MLS players in terms of base salary, nor the top 24 players in terms of guaranteed compensation.
The league leader in base salary? That's Toronto FC's Lorenzo Insigne, who boasts a base salary of $7,500,000.
Xherdan Shaqiri of Chicago Fire, who earns $7,350,000, in base compensation, is the overall highest earner with a total compensation of about $8.2 million.
Huge-money deal with ex-European stars doesn't always produce winning, though.
Chicago last week fired now-former head coach Ezra Hendrickson, and he wasn't aided by Shaqiri as much as the player's salary figures might suggest he should have been. Shaqiri had a reasonable first season in MLS, which has proven to be a difficult league for some foreign players to transfer into, as he posted seven goals and 11 assists. But in limited time in 2023, Shaqiri's only added one assist to his personal tally.
Chicago is 3-3-5 in the Eastern Conference and beneath the playoff cut line.
Toronto also boasts a second player − Federico Bernardeschi − among the top five in total compensation ($6,295,381). Despite TFC's outlay for Insigne and Bernardeschi, the club sits in last place in the Eastern Conference on a 2-4-6 record (12 points), although they're just three points back of a log-jam of clubs on 15 points.
That log-jam is led my Inter Miami CF, which is all the way up in sixth place, so Toronto isn't out of the playoff race by any means, but it does call into question the true value of its highest-paid stars.
The full list of FC Cincinnati salaries:
Player: base salary; guaranteed compensation.
Luciano Acosta: $1,943,500; $2,166,983.Brenner Souza da Silva: $1,680,000; $2,218,6000.Matt Miazga: $1,500,000; $1,500,000.Obinna Nwobodo: $1,555,000; $1,289,400.Yuya Kubo: $1,091,000; $1,206,750.Brandon Vazquez: $900,000; $1,041,000.Sergio Santos: $700,000; $814,375.Yerson Mosquera (on-loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers FC): $600,000; $650,000.Santiago Arias: $550,000; $611,354.Dominique Badji: $550,00; $605,000.Junior Moreno: $349,992; $398,741.Alvaro Barreal: $300,000; $519,297.Ray Gaddis: $300,000; $300,000.Marco Angulo: $275,000; $323,000.Alec Kann: $200,000; $220,833.Alvas Powell: $190,000; $207,000.Nick Hagglund: $175,000; $175,000.Roman Celentano (Generation Adidas): $100,000; $112,500.Evan Louro: $88,200; $88,200.Isaiah Foster: $85,444; $89,823.Arquimides Ordonez: $85,444; $88,981.Harrison Robledo: $85,444; $106,336.Ian Murphy: $72,050; $74,300.Joey Akpunonu (Generation Adidas): $67,360; $69,860.Stiven Jiminez: $67,360; $67,360.Malik Pinto: $67,360; $67,360.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Breaking down FC Cincinnati's salary numbers for the 2023 season
