Today, the MLS Player’s Association (MLSPA) released their salary guide for the 2025 season. The MLSPA typically releases these salary guides twice a year (usually in May and October), so this first release, though later than usual, gives us a chance to review the Columbus Crew’s acquisitions and new contracts.

Some housekeeping before we begin. These salaries might not be 100 percent accurate. Players may have various bonus structures or marketing agreements that are not represented in the MLSPA’s release.

The chart below shows the current Crew roster as of June 25, 2025 with the exception of Tristan Brown whose contract has not yet been published. The base salary number represents each player’s yearly contract, while the guaranteed compensation reflects an average of bonuses possible throughout the life of the contract. The numbers present in this salary don’t necessarily reflect the actual salary cap hit or Designated Player (DP)/Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) qualifications of the players and also do not include transfer fees (which are taken into account for MLS salary cap compliance). Additionally, U22 Initiative signings and homegrown players earn a salary that is not reflected in their budget charge.

We have included roster designations in the chart below but you can also find them in the MLS Roster Profile release from March of this year.

For the chart below, acquisitions are in bold and players with raises are bolded and italicized.

Columbus’s total base salary spend so far is $13,965,862 while their total compensation is $16,355,869. 2025’s total compensation is around $1.2 million MORE than the Black & Gold’s listed total compensation at this time last season (2024), however this season’s spend is just $300,000 more than total compensation at the same time in 2023. Diego Rossi remains the highest-paid player with the Crew, earning $2,725,000 in base salary and $3,426,827 in total compensation. This puts Rossi as the 29th highest-paid player in MLS.

New Acquisitions

Columbus have seven new acquisitions so far this year. Most are depth players but two notable newcomers have jumped into the starting lineup since putting on the Black & Gold.

Hungarian attacker Dániel Gazdag joined via an inter-league transfer with the Philadelphia Union in April of 2025 and is the Crew’s newest DP. Gazdag signed a contract extension shortly after joining, which is likely not reflected in this salary release, and is currently the second-highest paid player on the team earning $2,000,004 in base salary and $2,597,643 in total compensation. Overall, Gazdag is the 36th highest paid player in MLS.

Ibrahim Aliyu also joined Columbus via inter-league transfer, making the move just before the primary transfer window closed. Aliyu will occupy a U22 slot with the Crew so his $474,996 in base salary and $526,375 in total compensation will only count for $200,000 against the salary cap.

General Manager Issa Tall signed two Crew 2 players to full team deals this year, further cementing the academy to first team pipeline. The aforementioned Tristan Brown joined in early June, and is not included in this salary release, while goalkeeper Stanislav Lapkes signed a first team deal before the season began and will earn $80,622 in base salary and $99,712 in total compensation as a homegrown player.

Two free agents joined the Black & Gold earlier in 2025, both having previously played under Wilfried Nancy in Montreal. Wingback Lassi Lappalainen will earn $325,000 in base salary and $368,750 in total compensation while midfielder Amar Sejdić will earn $104,000 in base salary and $118,550 in total compensation.

Following a standout performance when he was called in for emergency duty against New York City FC, 2025 MLS SuperDraft pick Cesar Ruvalcaba was signed to a first team deal with a base salary and total compensation of $80,622.

New Contracts and Pay Increases

Following last year’s releases, only two notable new contracts were handed out, both to players who have found themselves on various iterations of Mauricio Pochettino’s United States Men’s National Team.

Max Arfsten inked an extension in October of the 2024 season, keeping him under contract through the 2027 season with a team option for 2028. Under the terms of his new deal Arfsten will earn $350,000 in base salary and $389,375 in total compensation.

Goalkeeper Patrick Schulte signed his new deal in February of 2025. That deal has the same length as Arfsten and pays Schulte $825,000.00 in base salary and $957,083.00 in total compensation. This TAM deal makes Schulte the sixth highest paid goalkeeper in MLS.

Notable League Acquisitions

The highest profile new addition to the league is San Diego FC’s attacker Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. Lozano, a longtime Mexican National Team standout, joined San Diego after nearly a decade in Europe. San Diego will pay Lozano $6,000,000 in base salary and $7,633,333 in total compensation.

Atlanta United made two splashy transfers in the primary window. Former MLS Cup winner Miguel Almirón returns to the five stripes and will earn $6,056,000 in base salary and $7,871,000 in total compensation. Former English Championship standout Emmanuel Latte Lath joins for a league record transfer fee of $22 million and will earn $3,534,546 in base salary and $4,030,546 in total compensation.

Southern Ohio rivals FC Cincinnati made two acquisitions with Kévin Denkey joining from Club Brugge (earning $3,800,000 in base salary and $3,810,000 in total compensation) and Evander joining via inter-league transfer from Portland (earning $3,200,000 in base salary and $4,736,411 in total compensation.

Finally, former FC Cincinnati and Atlanta United striker Brandon Vazquez returned to MLS following a stint with CF Monterry. Vazquez joined Austin FC via transfer and will earn $3,200,000 in base salary and $3,551,778 in total compensation.

Overall League Spend

The top five teams in league total compensation should look relatively familiar to prior seasons. Chicago Fire were able to shed some bad contracts to just drop out of the top five while Atlanta United and the LA Galaxy have added salary to vault themselves into the top tier of spending. Inter Miami is once again the league’s biggest spender but $35.2 million of their $46.8 million is spread between just three players (Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba). That leaves $11.6 million for the rest of Miami’s roster. Toronto’s salary remains tied up in Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi with $21.7 million spent between just those two players.

1. Inter Miami – $46.8
2. Toronto FC – $34.1
3. Atlanta Untied – $27.6
4. FC Cincinnati – $23.2
5. LA Galaxy – $22.9

The Crew sit right at 20th in overall spend, one spot ahead of where they were last year at this time. Should Columbus use the summer transfer window to sign a DP, like many expect, they’ll jump up to somewhere between 10th and 15th in total spend. I said the exact same thing last year and we all know that this didn’t happen, but without Cucho Hernandez to lead the attacking line a DP up front is desperately needed.