Ian and Chido join the Mile High Club
Chief WarPigs
Per reporting from Tom Bogert and Laurel Pfahler, FC Cincinnati have agreed to a deal sending CBs Ian Murphy and Chido Awaziem to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for around $1M in GAM plus additional add-ons.
WHY THIS DEAL HAPPENED:
Two words: “Salary Cap.”
FC Cincinnati has a salary cap problem with a surplus of players making above the MLS max salary budget charge (roughly $650,000) or that came with transfer fees that need to be accounted for. In both of those cases the currency needed to stay salary compliant is “xAM” (General Allocation Money or Targeted Allocation Money – GAM and TAM).
The club was likely counting on a permanent transfer of Alvaro Barreal this offseason to provide some of that needed cap relief (clubs can convert up to $3M of sale proceeds into GAM). However, with his loan club Cruzeiro declining his purchase option it leaves FC Cincinnati several million short of what is going to be needed to balance the books. While a sale of Barreal remains possible (even likely), it seems very apparent that the club will not be receiving nearly as much money as they were hoping for when he went on loan initially.
By trading Awaziem the club clears both his $500,000 transfer fee and his salary of ~$1.2M – which would have likely resulted in a GAM hit of nearly $1M this upcoming season.
Also, by doing this deal today, it reduces the number of players to protect in this week’s expansion draft by two. This makes some tough decisions much easier for Chris Albright on that front.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR FC CINCINNATI:
The roster and salary cap situation for FC Cincinnati is slightly better now, but there still isn’t a lot of room for Albright to move. The team is going to need to continue to be creative about how it does business, and Albright will need to be value shopping in the upcoming window. His usual M.O. of buying high-xAM players or paying transfer fees needs to take a back seat, at least temporarily, to getting more players like Yamil Asad on low-dollar deals. Getting active in the U22 market is a must, as those roster spots hit the cap at a much lower number and allow for unlimited payment of transfer fee with no cap penalty.
The club also needs to resolve the Barreal situation. Getting any amount of GAM for him, even $1M, could make a huge difference this window in what options Albright has available to him.
Additionally, the club needs to decide what is happening with club captain Lucho Acosta. A sale of Acosta will give this team the flexibility to go to the 2DP / 4U22 model even if Luca Orellano’s transfer fee cannot be bought down. Should the club come up with enough GAM to buy down the transfer fee, Lucho’s DP spot could be utilized again either this winter or in the summer window.
