MLS salary update: More Canadians working in the league, but making less

More Canadians are working in MLS this season than in 2012 — but those new jobs aren’t on the high-pay end of the scale.

The MLS Players’ Union released its salary update Monday, the day when the layers of secrecy are peeled away from the contracts that have been signed by the league’s players.

And what have we learned? That there are five Canadian players making US$35,125 this season, while eight more are on the books for base salaries of $46,500 each. Of those, only DC United’s Kyle Porter and TFC’s Kyle Bekker were able to squeeze some extra dough out of their deals to get a little bit more than their base contracts.

With Julian de Guzman now playing out the string with relegated Bundesliga 2. side Jahn Regensburg, he gives up his No. 1 spot on the Canadian rich list. Dwayne De Rosario, with a base number of $600,000, now takes over as the highest paid Canadian in MLS.

His DC United teammate, DeJan Jakovic, enjoyed a $72,000 base-salary bump and now sits at $280,000 a season, putting him at No. 2 on the rich list. Will Johnson, who saw his salary remain unchanged when he was dealt from Real Salt Lake to Portland, is No, 3 at $243,750.

Another interesting tidbit: Ante Jazic, the Canadian fullback who hasn’t surfaced at Chivas USA this season, is still on the books of the Los Angeles club.

And, while we are discussing lost souls, the Players’ Union has an unattached Matt Stinson still on the MLS books for $46,500 this season. Stinson was cut by TFC earlier this season, but the Canadian midfielder is still on the league’s books, according to the MLSPU numbers.

And Terry Dunfield got a significant raise in the off-season. The TFC midfielder was listed with an $86,000 salary in 2012, and he’s up to $120,000 in 2013.

Below, we present the Canadian rich list. The first number is the player’s base salary, and the second is the player’s full compensation (including bonuses, etc.) for 2013.

For purposes of never having declared for the national team, we have excluded Columbus forward Ethan Finlay (whose dad is Canadian) and FC Dallas defender Ugo Ihemelu, who grew up in Winnipeg. We have included Montreal’s Wandrille Lefevre, who was born in France but is considered a domestic player in MLS as he’s spent years in Quebec. We have also counted TFC’s Ashton Bennett as a domestic even though he’s foreign-born and hasn’t been capped by the senior national team.

And we put Ghana-born Gershon Koffie on the list. The Whicecap now has his Canadian residency and has hinted he’d like to play for Canada down the road, though an appeal would need to be made to FIFA on behalf of the midfielder as he wasn’t a Canadian citizen when he appeared as a youth for Ghana.

Dwayne De Rosario, DCU $600,000 $645,333.33
Dejan Jakovic, DCU $280,000 $303,341.33
Will Johnson, POR $243,750 $243,750
Gershon Koffie, VAN $165,000 $176,000
Patrice Bernier, MTL $143,000 $162,333.25
Ante Jazic, CHV $132,187.50 $132,187.50
Terry Dunfield, TFC $120,000 $120,000
Bryce Alderson, VAN $65,000 $80,000
Nana Attakora, SJ $61,665 $61,665
Ashtone Morgan, TFC $60,000 $72,000
Russell Teibert, VAN $60,000 $65,600
Doneil Henry, TFC $50,000 $62,083.33
Kyle Bekker, TFC $46,500 $67,750
Kyle Porter, DCU $46,500 $54,992.45
Ashton Bennett, TFC $46,500 $46,500
Caleb Clarke, VAN $46,500 $46,500
Jonathan Osorio, TFC $46,500 $46,500
Karl Ouimette, MTL $46,500 $46,500
Quillan Roberts, TFC $46,500 $46,500
Emery Welshman, TFC $46,500 $46,500
Drew Beckie, CLB $35,125 $35,125
Maxime Crepeau, MTL $35,125 $35,125
Wandrille Lefevre, MTL $35,125 $35,125
Simon Thomas, VAN $35,125 $35,125
Maxim Tissot, MTL $35,125 $35,125

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