Major League Soccer announced “significant” roster rule changes on the opening day of the 2024 Secondary Transfer Window. While many fans (and front offices) will be frustrated that complicated financial mechanisms like TAM/GAM, Designated Players, and U22 Player Initiative roster slots remain, Atlanta United may be perfectly positioned as a rebuilding club to take advantage of these financial and roster-building quirks in 2025.
The tl:dr; is that clubs now have six “prime roster spots” for either three Designated Players and three U-22s, or two DPs, 4 U22s, and up to an additional $2 million in GAM that clubs could choose to spend from their own discretionary funds. That extra GAM must be used or traded by the roster freeze date. (Clubs must declare their “roster construction path” of choice by August 14th, the close of the Secondary Window; beginning next season, they will have to declare their roster construction path by the Roster Compliance Date that year.)
Clubs are also now eligible to convert up to $3 million (previously $1,215,506) of total transfer revenues into GAM without restriction on the amount from any individual transfer. GAM acquired through player transfers may be used in the current season or saved for future seasons.
So, what does that mean for Atlanta United? The club has two DP slots to fill, limited cap space, and no U-22 spots until Santiago Sosa and Franco Ibarra permanently move to the clubs where they are on loan. Recent reporting suggests that Atlanta may fill one of its two vacant DP roster spots with Atalanta’s Alexsey Miranchuk. With two Designated Players and three U22 Players on the roster, the club can choose a couple of different routes with its next two windows. The clear assumption is that Stian Gregersen will be bought down to a TAM player in the winter window. The opportunity for Atlanta thus becomes whether they would prefer to 1) add a U22 Player and $1 million in GAM to use in the second half of this season or 2) sign a third DP. If the club chooses option 1, they could still sign two U-22s (to replace Sosa and Ibarra) and a new DP in the winter window once Gregersen is bought down while adding up to an additional $2 million in GAM that they have to use before the roster freeze. If they choose option 2, they could either sign a new DP to replace Gregersen’s spot and 2 U-22 Players (to replace Sosa and Ibarra) or sign 3 U-22 Players.
With the Olympics just days away and with qualifying tournaments around the world for the U-20 World Cup, MLS clubs will have a plethora of opportunities to scout potential U-22 prospects. Any player who is 22 years old or younger when he is signed and whose salary does not exceed the Maximum Salary Budget charge ($683,750 in 2024, $743,750 in 2025) is eligible to be signed through their age-25 seasons, without a limit in how much can be paid in acquisition costs, with the player counting, at most, $200,000 against the cap. While teams can also sign Homegrown Players as U22 players for their second contracts, this mechanism is now best suited for making MLS clubs more competitive in recruiting top talent to use MLS as a stepping stone to the top leagues in the world.
Regardless of the two options it chooses, the club will also have up to $3 million in GAM with which to work from the combined transfer revenue of Thiago Almada, Caleb Wiley and Giorgos Giakoumakis, plus Ezequiel Barco’s sell-on fee. This won’t be the only source of GAM for Atlanta in the offseason: San Diego is set to enter the league as an expansion club in 2025 so all clubs will have an infusion of GAM to work with. Atlanta could also add more GAM if the club fails to make the playoffs.
TAM/GAM can feel opaque and confusing. According to the MLS roster rules released today:
Allocation Money can be used to “buy down” a player’s Salary Budget Charge as part of managing a club’s roster, including buying down a Salary Budget Charge below the League maximum of $683,750. For example, a club may buy down a player earning $700,000 to a Salary Budget Charge of $500,000 by using $200,000 of General Allocation Money.
A club can use General Allocation Money to reduce a player’s Salary Budget Charge to the lesser of 50% of the Salary Budget Charge or $150,000. This restriction does not apply where General Allocation Money is being used on a loan or transfer fee; a club may reduce 100% of a loan or transfer fee.
A club can trade xAM for other players, international roster slots, Superdraft picks, or other roster construction devices, from Discovery Rights to Re-Entry Draft positioning. In 2017, Atlanta United traded $750,000 in GAM and $300,000 in TAM for Darlington Nagbe. That $3 million of GAM available to the club from this year’s transfers could shake some things up in the MLS trade market with starters like Portland’s Eryk Williamson rumored to be available.
It will be up to Atlanta’s scouting team, player acquisition team, and their new head coach to translate these new rules (and future rule changes) toward building a winning roster. With a number of members of current roster on expiring contracts or set to expire in 2025, the next head coach will have the resources and roster spots available to build the team he wants. With the academy finally churning out valuable depth and a core group of experienced players starting to solidify, there may be reasons for hope in Atlanta.
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I get seasick before even trying to understand these byzantine MLS rules. But, this discussion is secondary. What really matters is the coach. I don´t know if you follow the soccer in MLS, other than what refers to Atlanta? I am very very impressed with that Tata is doing. In this last game, no Messi, no Busquets, no Suarez, two very young players, who came under this U-22 category, I suppose, Diego Gomez, and Federico Redondo, simply destroyed the opponent. And they were Tata´s findings. He brought up from the Academy other talents, who are playing surprisingly good soccer. This is what happens when you have a first class coach. Everything else is just a waste of money, and time.
Oh! Since you found him to begin with, it is amazing what Julian Gressel is doing. I think he created a new class or position – football HIMARS. Amazing precision at long distance.
On the other side of things, I am sad do inform that my Gremio is currently in the relegation zone, after being vice-champion in our Serie A last year. I think the floods affected tendons. .
Best regards
M
Losing Julián Gressel was worse than losing Tata Martino.
Well, that is an interesting view. But, Gressel would not have been useful in the post Tata Atlanta teams. He could not do anything at DC. No one can, really.
I think it is rare to have a manager like Tata in MLS who dictates what kind of players he wants as well as he does. Most managers just seem to accept the group of misfits they are given.
This is what differentiates Tata more than anything else in my opinion, and something I have grown to appreciate more and more as we suffer in purgatory.
Probably also explains why he struggled with Mexico. Cant just go get better players with the national team.
This is one reason I have been so repetitive on this topic (sorry, Atlantistas). In a more mature league, or club, the structures are more in place. A footballing director has a history, a manager has a mission, and a very good list of players to watch, and coaches have their missions clearly stated. I think this is somewhat lacking in MLS – also because now I understand the owners of the clubs (and Miami is clearly an exception), are billionaires, with US football clubs in their portfolio, who see soccer as a sidekick, a nice-to-have additional business. In this scenario, a truly competent, experienced, global manager supplies elements that are still missing in the supply chain.
The thing is, these professionais are available in the international market, and MLS has become a lot more attractive, and this is before 2026. I hope Atlanta FO simply gets ambitious again. A top legal coach from Portugal, Argentina, Spain, will certainly do the job.
* on another note: Tata struggled with Mexico because Mexico simply does not have what it takes. He should have resigned (but maybe the $$ was too good?)
Still way too complicated. Is US congress involved on these regulations? Or just maybe the justice dept?
Maybe we can hold a Senate hearing to find a new Technical Director to help forge our “roster construction path.”
My only fear is a filibuster from Boca.
Atlanta can partially solve the U-22 situation right this very moment by simply buying out either Sosa or Ibarra. There are no restrictions on when you use your one buyout as it’s valid for the entire year, so they could still do that. Rumor is that Sosa and Ibarra both have club options for 2025 so if not picked up, the club can eventually walk away. I can barely contain my excitement at the thoughts of getting more U-22s since that has been such a fantastically good program so far for Atlanta United – not. I can’t prove this but I very strongly suspect that MLS secretly changed the rules regarding how U-22s are counted on the roster before this season started because of Boca’s flim flam move with 4 U-22s last year that blew up when Mosquera’s team said “Take him back. We’ve had enough.” We have no way to know if Toronto actually picked up any of Ibarra’s salary last year since MLS doesn’t announce those things. I did notice that MLS made a really big deal right before this season started of a public announcement that since the clubs Ibarra and Sosa were being loaned to this year failed to fully pick up those salaries, both counted on the roster as U-22s for the year.
Sigh.
If I remember correctly from reporting about why Etienne was traded (while most of his 2024 and 2025 salary is still being paid by Atlanta) rather than bought out was that we had already used our 2024 buyout to make the separation from Erik Lopez official.
You are right that we are coming up on contract option decisions on Sosa and Ibarra, and it looks likely that Racing Club could buy Sosa outright at the end of his loan in December since he has become a regular for them at CB.
When it comes to the loan of Ibarra to Toronto last year, the issue was never his compensation, it was freeing up the U-22 spot. This is the first paragraph from Toronto’s press release about the move last July.
“Roster construction path” is the most ridiculous MLS thing I’ve ever heard. Im sure there are positives, but I’m not a big fan of further incentivizing the u-22 pathway, which appears to be the main selling point here, in addition to more flexibility.
The increase in revenue concertible to GAM is a huge deal before we sell Wiley. That GAM is basically enough to buy down Gregersen right now.
If we get 3m GAM for Wiley, and offload Ibarra/Sosa, we could potentially sign 2 U22s, buy down Stian, and sign THREE DPs.
I don’t think we’ll invest all that before hiring a coach, but wow that would be crazy.
i think there is a rule where Gregersen can’t be bought down until after this season
I think buy downs can happen at any time.
Yeah I think it’s just a question of how much GAM we have free
I think this is correct. When talking to the media in the last couple of weeks, both Bocanegra and Lagerway have suggested that moving Gregersen from DP to TAM is not possible until the winter even with the new funds coming in. They were still figuring out how much money they would have to work with for the cap from the big sales this window.
Wiley’s sale has not been completed yet, so I guess the team is still in limbo regarding available funds
If we go the U-22 route, Rokas Puktas may be an option; US player, can play 8 or 10. Hajduk Split are just starting UECL qualifying but their roster is a little bloated
That’s a very interesting option that could be a worthwhile loan-to-buy situation that gives the player a chance to develop while also giving us an inexpensive addition to the roster.
I think if FO is serious about being competitive, they will probably go the 3 DP route. But if they are in it for the money, probably 2 DP and 4 U22 plus GAM route
Idk, I think the GAM route might be viable if you can hit on 2/4 of the U22s.
My thoughts exactly. If we can get a couple of really high-profile kids who will play for below $700k in salary, we can pay whatever purchase price the selling club needs. If we bring in two who excel at the Olympics or are looking to land a spot on their club’s U-20 WC team next summer, we can afford for one or two to take a little bit more time to break into the lineup.