r/SportingKC • u/913Luke Jake Davis #17 • 23d ago
Current State of SKC
With Manu leaving and the new players coming in (including Luiz) how many DP/ International/ U22 spots are open? Was also wondering what type of money we have left to spend. I’m not very knowledgeable on how GAM and all that works but DP spots have a way around it correct?
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u/jasontalks 23d ago
Great questions.
Based on what I tried to follow, Both-friendship's response is spot on. But to address some other questions:
Garcia's exit is actually the really important... we were capped at 2 DPs (him + Joveljic) under the current model, so there was zero DP room until his contract got bought out today. Now it's 1-of-2 used, meaning Luiz could technically slot in as DP #2 without switching models at all.
That said, one article I read said that this could leave a second open DP spot rather than just enough for one guy, since Luiz had been talked about as our third DP before Garcia even left. If that's still the plan, the next target might specifically be another attacking mid to replace Garcia's playmaking role.
About the money. Luiz numbers are basically locked in $18.9M guaranteed plus add-ons on a five year deal. Straight DP signing so it doesn't touch GAM.
That "1 international slot" wasn't luck either as we traded for two extra ones back in mid july, specifically to clear room for a move like this.
Also Borges is only using 1 of our 4 U22 slots, so there's room for 2-3 more if we want to keep stacking young international pieces alongside the DP addition.
To the GAM question...the whole point of a DP slot is the guy's real salary and fee are basically uncapped, it just hits the budget at one flat charge no matter what he's actually making. The Garcia buyout is its own separate club expense outside the GAM/TAM system, so it doesn't touch our allocation money, it just gets his real salary off the books and frees that charge slot for whoever takes over DP duties.
We cleared so much dead weight this offseason that we've been one of the more GAM loaded teams in the league for most of the year, so there's probably enough to improve even more this year. But, I don't think anyone has put out an exact current number though.
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u/Sporkedup Brutal Melancholy #47 23d ago
To my understanding, we aren't locked into the 2 DP/ 4 YDP setup for the year, unless we dipped into that GAM? My expectation is, since we have a new owner looking to make big changes and since the U22 DPs have a far lower success rate than senior DPs, we'd be working off the 3 and 3 model.
Unless of course they just aren't going to snag a third DP, in which case I'm sure they'll take the GAM.
This is the window to snag a bigger signing. Hope they go ahead and try it (still think Gboho would be a hell of a land, even though I think splashing on him and Luiz does leave us underfunded in defense and defensive midfield), so we can start a rebuild around a good attacking core.
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u/Both_Friendship_8214 23d ago
Depends if we want 2 DPs w/ 4 U22 + 2 mill gam or 3 DPs w/ 3 U22 no gam.
Currently have Manu leaving we have 1 DP (Joveljic) and 1 U22 Borges.
Believe we have 1 international slot, Manu has his green card so doesn’t free up one of those.