How much do Charlotte FC players make and what might it reveal about the future?

Liel Abada, who joined Charlotte FC in March, is earning $2.3 million per year in base salary — the highest any player has earned at the club in its brief history. Karol Swiderski was the club’s previous top earner.

The Major League Soccer Players Association released its 2024 salary guide in May, which includes a complete list of player salaries.

With the halfway point of the regular season recently passing and the club likely to be busy in the upcoming secondary transfer window, here are some notable highlights from the data.

Will Swiderski stay or go?

Swiderski currently earns $2.2 million per year in base salary and could return to Charlotte FC and fill one of its two open designated player spots after his loan at Hellas Verona expired without the Italian club triggering an option to buy the forward.

“Verona made an offer that we rejected, because the original agreement was one and they wanted to change the goalposts and we rejected it,” general manager Zoran Krneta recently told WFNZ. “So it’s very much open market. We will obviously listen to Karol’s vision, but we also will make plans for if he wants to be back for the club.”

Swiderski scored twice in 15 Series A appearances, most of which were off the bench, but Charlotte FC’s all-time leading scorer and could help solve its attacking woes — the Queen City side has scored just 19 goals in 18 games despite sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference.

The Polish forward scored 25 goals and added 13 assists in 70 appearances across all competitions with Charlotte FC. The club loaned Swiderski to Hellas Verona in February, with Krneta saying “[Swiderski] was clear with his intention to pursue this opportunity” and “the club was not going to stand in his way” in a release.

With Swiderski now competing at the 2024 European Championships in Germany for Poland and a resolution unclear after the expiration of the loan, Charlotte head coach Dean Smith was coy about how he’d like the situation to pan out.

“I have no idea, I mean that’s down to the front office dealing with Karol and what Karol’s expectations are. Obviously, he’s now our player again,” Smith said at a press conference on Monday. “He’s in the Euros with Poland at the moment and we wish him well there, but I think that’s something that’s going to be ironed out front office wise.”

Whether Swiderski elects to stay or go, he’s been dethroned as the club’s top earner.

Abada is Charlotte FC’s highest-paid player

Abada was brought in from Scottish side Celtic in March and has scored three goals in nine appearances, two of which came in Charlotte FC’s recent 3-2 win over Atlanta United.

“With any new player that comes in, there’s always going to be an adaptation period. I think he’s been shorter than most if I’m honest,” Smith said at a press conference on Thursday.

Abada suffered an injury that saw him miss four games in May but is settling back into a Charlotte attack that’s looking to improve in the second half of the season.

Dejaegere slots in as Charlotte FC’s third-highest earner

Brecht Dejaegere sits alone as the club’s third-highest paid player behind Abada and Swiderski after the departure of designated player Enzo Copetti to Rosario Central in May.

Dejaegere scored once and added two assists in Charlotte FC’s first eight games of the season, but after accumulating five yellow cards he picked up a one-game suspension. He missed Charlotte’s game against Philadelphia Union as a result and has made only two short cameos as a very late substitute in the three games since.

“He’s working extremely hard, he’s actually looked really bright the last week which has been good. I thought he came on at Atlanta and saw the game out, helped us see the game out really well,” Smith said. “But for the kind of player he is, he knows that he’s got to produce more assists and more goals.”

“Without the ball, he has been excellent for us. We just need better numbers with the ball.”

The former Toulouse and Gent player will compete for game time with a crowded group of midfield options, most of which are earning considerably less than the Belgian, in Charlotte’s busy upcoming run of games.

Where could Charlotte FC strengthen this summer?

With the summer transfer window that opens on July 18 approaching, Charlotte FC currently has two open designated player spots that could be used to strengthen the team.

Swiderski could fill one of those spots if he returns to the club. But, at the very least, Charlotte could make one big addition this summer and be active elsewhere.

“It’s still early days, obviously it’s well known that we’re looking for a striker that we potentially might need, an attacking midfielder we might need and maybe a defensive player we would like to kind of add to our roster,” Krneta told WFNZ on Friday.

Charlotte FC has a lot of room to add talent with the designated player spots and is sitting in a great position at around the halfway point of the regular season when comparing the club’s relatively low salaries to other teams across the league.

Salaries of the current Charlotte FC roster

At the time of the MLSPA salary guide’s release, Charlotte FC was spending $14,529,129 a year on players’ guaranteed compensation, which ranked 25th out of 29 teams in the league. The third-year club has since offloaded Copetti and his $1 million base salary.

Inter Miami is the league’s leading spenders at $41,679,126 while second-year team St. Louis City SC ranked last at $12,015,851. Charlotte rivals Atlanta United slotted in at No. 11, spending $16,663,279.

Here’s how much each player currently on Charlotte FC’s roster makes, per the MLSPA 2024 salary guide.

Note: The “Guaranteed Compensation” number includes a player’s base salary plus all signing and guaranteed bonuses annualized over the term of the player’s contract. It also includes any marketing bonus and any agent fees — both annualized over the term of the contract — but does not include potential performance bonuses.