Ryan Gauld’s high salary finally gets Whitecaps off the MLS spending floor

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Not only have the Vancouver Whitecaps retired from the bottom of the Western Conference rankings, they are no longer the bottom-most spending team in MLS.

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The Caps had been the league’s lowest-spending team, the second straight year they’d been at the bottom, when the latest figures were released in May, at $ 8.7 million.

But the summer acquisition of players like Ryan Gauld ($ 2,025,000) and Pedro Vite ($ 609,997) has raised the payroll to $ 10.96 million, putting them 24th of 27 MLS teams . Only Philadelphia ($ 10.57 million, New York Red Bulls ($ 9.98 million) and Colorado ($ 9.89 million) have lower cumulative wages, but all three have better records than Vancouver.

All four, however, have exceeded their salaries, as Vancouver is also knocking on the playoffs door, with a win-loss record better than 10 other MLS clubs.

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Prime rib example (as in so, so delicious): Toronto FC has the third highest payroll overall, the fourth and sixth most expensive players in Alejandro Pozuelo (US $ 4.69 million) and Jozy Altidore (US $ 3 , 6 million), and have already been eliminated from playoff contention.

Gauld’s $ 2 million salary, which was earned without a transfer fee, even though the Caps paid Farense to leave, is the highest in team history. The impact of the long-awaited No. 10 has been immediate.

The other four top earners are Lucas Cavallini ($ 1,362,500), Vite, Florian Jungwirth ($ 567,667), Caio Alexandre ($ 539,583) and Erik Godoy ($ 450,000).

The Whitecaps currently have two senior CEOs in Gauld and Cavallini, and three players from the U-22 Initiative, also known as MLS “Young Money” Players in Vite, Deiber Caicedo and Alexandre. That means they can still sign a third DP, as long as the player is a young DP (23 years max) or a senior player whose limit can be purchased with discretionary selective allocation money, a maximum of $ 1.61 million in 2021.

The ranking of the four most expensive players in the league remains unchanged. The two most expensive reside in Los Angeles: LAFC’s Carlos Vela ($ 6.3 million) and Galaxy forward Chicharito ($ 6 million). Gonzalo Higuaín of Inter Miami (US $ 5.79 million) and Pozuelo register in third and fourth place, while Atlanta has the fifth and sixth highest paid players in Luiz Araujo (US $ 3,941,667) and Josef Martínez ( US $ 3,891,667).

Altidore (US $ 3.6 million), Rodolfo Pizarro of Miami (US $ 3.35 million), Maxi Moralez of NYCFC (US $ 3.29 million) and Victor Wanyama of Montreal (US $ 3.09 million) complete the top 10.

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The offensive production of those players has been miniscule, especially due to injury concerns that have limited players like Vela and Pozuelo. Of the 10, only Chicharito (13), Higuaín (10) and Martínez (10) have scored double digits in goals.

Vancouver’s Brian White has 10 goals on the season, and he’s only on the books for $ 216,000 by 2021.

There are no players I can point to on the Vancouver team and say that they are overpaid for their production, relative to their position averages, but there are players who are vastly outperforming their contracts, White being the best example.

Max Crepeau is one of the best goalkeepers in the league, but he’s only the 23rd tallest player at his position.

Sam Stejskal from Athletic crunched the general numbers and found that there were 81 players making at least $ 1 million, nine more than in April, and the average payroll per team is $ 13.38 million, up from the average of $ 12.29 million reported earlier this year. anus. There are only three single-player teams making more than US $ 1 million, in San Jose, Minnesota and with the Red Bulls, while Cincinnati, Sporting Kansas City and Toronto are at the opposite end with five players making more than US $ 1 million. $ 1 million.

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VANCOUVER WHITE LAYERS WAGES

Caio Alexandre, $ 539,583

* Theo Bair, $ 81,375

Michael Baldisimo, $ 91,275

Janio Bikel, 388,750

Isaac Boehmer, $ 66,724

Javain Brown, $ 63,547

Deiber Caicedo, $ 331,125

* Matteo Campagna, $ 72,559

Lucas Cavallini, $ 1,362,500

* Simon Colyn, $ 81,375

* Derek Cornelius, $ 127,050

Maxime Crepeau, $ 277,500

Cristian, Dajome, $ 447,917

* David Egbo, $ 63,547

* Gianfranco Facchineri, $ 68,724

Bruno Gaspar, $ 233,333

Ryan Gauld, $ 2,025,000 (26th overall)

Marcus Godinho, $ 84,375

Erik Godoy, $ 450,000

Cristian Gutierrez, $ 167,500

Kamron Habibullah, $ 74,429

Thomas Hasal, $ 81,375

Florian Jungwirth, $ 567,667

* Jasser Khmiri, $ 240,000

Patrick Metcalfe, $ 66,724

Jake Nerwinski, $ 270,000

Evan Newton, $ 104,802

Leonard Owusu, $ 401,250

* Damiano Pecile, $ 72,818

Ryan Raposo, $ 104,000

Tosaint Ricketts, $ 165,000

Andy Rose, $ 132,000

Russell Teibert, $ 387,500

Brian White, $ 216,000

Ranko Veselinovic, $ 445,500.00

Pedro Vite, $ 609,997

Total salary account: $ 10.96 million