What to make of Atlanta United's payroll after MLSPA Salary Guide release

Taking a cursory look through the numbers with some instant reaction.

In case you missed it, the MLS Players Association published the second of their bi-annual Salary Guides, where we can see who is paid what to gain a better understanding of the thought process that will go into the team’s offseason moves.

You can find the list here.

• First of all, there should be no surprise that Atlanta’s payroll in total is one of the least expensive in the league, considering that the team only has One True Designated Player on the books (24th out of 29 teams).

• Second, there’s not a ton of new information here, as we already had seen several of these salaries on previous iterations of the Salary Guide. Having said that, some players can have their annual guaranteed monies shift based on the structure of the contract. As a reminder, MLS looks at a player’s salary + transfer fee amortized over the contract length for the purpose of assigning them as a Designated Player. However, clubs *can* adjust the actual payouts year to year to help maximize the roster against the annual “salary cap.”

• What is truly new here are the numbers for the summer signings. The One True Designated Player Alexey Miranchuk earns roughly $3.7 million, none of which impacts the Salary Budget due to his designation.

• The best contract on the team award, meaning the player who overperforms and adds value on the field to the greatest degree relative to their value to the payroll, is