Embed from Getty Images

This week the MLS Players Association published an updated version of the 2018 player salaries, the first since the close secondary transfer window and final roster freeze in September.

Headlines included high-profile D.C. United acquisition Wayne Rooney becoming the league’s ninth highest paid player at $2.78m, one of a record 53 millionaires now plying their trade in North America.

Elsewhere, FC Cincinnati made their debut appearance in the salary report having signed Fanendo Adi from Portland Timbers in the summer as they ready themselves for life in Major League Soccer next season.

The Nigerian-born forward has scored three times in his nine USL appearances so far while making more than LA Galaxy’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic who is only on a Targeted Allocation Money contract.

With MLS transfer and roster rules notoriously convoluted, it can be difficult to know just how to go about building a squad.

The real trick is spending in the right areas and finding value wherever possible.

This is no less pertinent in Orlando City SC’s case with the organisation undergoing a massive squad overhaul under Jason Kreis before the Lions’ Front Office relieved him of his duties mid-season.

So what can we learn from the latest update?

1. Summer arrivals

Orlando City Stadium welcomed two new faces in summer, namely Carlos Ascues and Shane O’Neill.

The Peruvian, who has looked at home in the Lions’ midfield lately having originally filled in at centre back when first arriving, is making $391.5k while defender O’Neill, who has nailed down a starting job under James O’Connor, takes up significantly less cap space at $79,499 – however, the figures would likely double for a full season next year.

That puts Shane O’Neill as Orlando City SC’s lowest earning centre back out of the five currently on the roster although only behind Jonathan Spector and Lamine Sané when doubled while Carlos Ascues would need to have a full season’s contract bought down with allocation money.

2. Cheaper keepers

It is no secret that 2018 saw Orlando City SC set a new single-season record for goals conceded.

The goalkeeper position has seen three men take control of the gloves as Joe Bendik, who had enjoyed two outstanding seasons between the posts, struggled to rekindle the form that saw him make 114 saves in his debut season in Central Florida and claim MLS Save of the Year.

James O’Connor called upon long-time Orlando City B keeper Earl Edwards Jr. in his first home game in charge which would end City’s nine-game winless streak and has more recently favoured Adam Grinwis as the Irishman continues to assess his options between the posts.

Although Joe Bendik is the 13th highest paid goalkeeper in MLS at $189k, the position isn’t particularly well-compensated outside the elite few. Indeed the shot-stopper makes less than the current squad average of $296k.

However, with him losing the number one job, James O’Connor could save cap space by permanently turning to Adam Grinwis or Earl Edwards Jr. at $67,500 and $68,250 respectively or instead decide to spend at the position in an attempt to close the floodgates.

3. The centre back in the room

Not only do Jonathan Spector and Lamine Sané rank as Orlando City SC’s highest paid centre backs in a historically bad defence but they are both in the top 20 for defenders in MLS.

The stark truth is that reoccurring fitness issues have completely clouded any semblance of value their contracts suggest with Sane ranking as the seventh highest paid defender behind only Michael Mancienne, Rod Fanni, Jørgen Skjelvik, Andreu Fontàs, Claude Dielna and Jonathan Mensah.

In terms of numbers, Sane, who joined the Lions at the beginning of the season from Bundesliga club Werder Bremen, has featured in 16 games while club captain Spector has only managed 13 appearances.

Based purely on the cap space invested in them alone, they are seen by management as the first choice partnership when both available and are two of four players in the squad being bought down with TAM but the duo have only managed to start four games together all year.

Amro Tarek, Shane O’Neill, Carlos Ascues, Chris Schuler, R. J. Allen and even Tony Rocha have instead all had to fill in at the position in a backline that has been defined by instability.

Shane O’Neill has proved good value as starter and Amro Tarek’s confident performances were an integral part of Orlando City SC’s six-game winning streak earlier in the year as he featured in a four alongside Sane.

The Egyptian international is currently on loan from Wadi Degla with an option to buy and would seem like a key piece on the depth chart with a squad-friendly impact to the salary cap at $88k should the move be made permanent.

4. Don’t mention DPs

Orlando City SC have a sketchy history of Designated Players.

Legendary Brazilian Kaká was never the week-in-week-out game winner many Lions supporters demanded of him but his impact in the club’s first three seasons is often severely underappreciated.

Not least when you consider his fellow Designated Players were Colombian forward Carlos Rivas who never lived up to the potential many saw faints glimpses of, and the elusive Bryan Róchez who would have faded into obscurity had he ever been in the picture to begin with.

And while players like Sebastian Giovinco, Ignacio Piatti, Josef Martínez, Romain Alessandrini, Maxi Moralez, Nicolás Lodeiro and Wayne Rooney continue to amaze regularly (with Orlando City SC’s Front Office having a front row seat when every single one of them has single-handedly won games for their respective teams against the Lions), City have cycled through the likes of Matías Pérez García and Giles Barnes before settling on this season’s selections of Dom Dwyer, Sacha Kljestan and Josué Colmán.

While Kljestan has struggled to find his glittering back-to-back assist leader form he displayed at New York Red Bulls and young Paraguayan Colmán has all but been banished to the bench by James O’Connor following some energetic early performances that ultimately lacked product, Dwyer seems like a relative success as the club’s top scorer.

Not only does Dwyer, who was never a Designated Player at Sporting Kansas City, lead the team in goals but also earnings. And this is where things seem problematic.

Three quarters of the league have at least one higher paid player on their roster than Dwyer with seven having more than one.

Indeed there are three players in MLS on higher wages who do not carry the Designated Player tag – Víctor Vázquez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yura Movsisyan.

Obviously wages aren’t the be all and end all in determining quality but the relative shoe-string budget when it comes to going out and finding explosive difference makers that can turn a game on its head is a telling sign of Orlando City SC’s unlikelihood for success.

The flipside of course is that none of the three highest spending teams are guaranteed to feature in the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs this year. Toronto FC, who spend more on their three Designated Players than any other team does across its entire roster, and Chicago Fire who spend 40% of their wage bill on Bastian Schweinsteiger are both already eliminated with LA Galaxy deciding their own fate on MLS Decision Day this Sunday.

Only New York Red Bulls with their exceptional homegrown products in Tyler Adams, Connor Lade and Alex Muyl, as well as the value found with the likes of Tim Parker and Kemar Lawrence to create one of the best back lines in MLS at the fraction of the cap space you’d expect, already has their playoff spot booked using a lower wage budget than Orlando City SC.

Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake are the only other teams with a hope of making the post-season in 2018 with less of a salary outlay but for the most part there’s simply no cheat code for investing in quality.

5. Jason Kreis’ guys

Jason Kreis traded for Dillon Powers in the 2017 secondary transfer window, sending Luis Gil and $100k TAM to Colorado Rapids in exchange for the midfielder and while seeing playing time more often than not towards the end of the last campaign, 2018 has seen him rarely get off the bench if indeed he got there in the first place.

When your club’s 14th highest paid player isn’t making the 18, it’s unlikely they’ll be around for much longer. And the same can be said for veteran defender and long-time RSL guy Chris Schuler who acted as much needed depth during the centre back injury crisis but hasn’t had a sniff of playing time in months having been usurped with the arrivals of Shane O’Neill and Carlos Ascues.

R. J. Allen is another of Kreis’ guys after linking back up with his former NYCFC manager in Central Florida and the New Jersey native’s $90k cap hit has been more than justified having provided relief at both full back positions as well as at centre back across his 965 playing minutes this season.

However, doubts loom as to whether James O’Connor keeps him around with Allen only playing in one of the last possible 12 games and only making the bench a further four.

Another acquisition under Jason Kreis was Donny Toia, who cost Orlando City SC a first round draft pick which Atlanta United later used to select 2017 Rookie of the Year Julian Gressel.

The Lions’ starting left back last season has only made four appearances this time round with PC, R .J. Allen and even Jonathan Spector and Will Johnson all being tested out at the position ahead of him when first choice Mohamed El-Munir has been out.

While Dillon Powers remains the most costly of the four at a relatively low cap-hit of $180k, there is a sense that the bulk of depth within the current squad will once again see mass turnover.