Major League Soccer released Minnesota United FC's official roster designations Tuesday. View the full thing here, but let me break it down for you below.
First of all, there's a bunch of rules about how the roster can come together. Each active roster can have 30 players, but the last two spots (29 and 30) are reserved for homegrown players. So, if a team doesn't have enough homegrown players (like United) then the roster is essentially that same 28-man size it has been in years past.
Roster spots 1-20 make up the "senior roster." These guys count against the $3.845 million salary cap per team. United has 19 guys on the senior roster right now, with the absence being left for defender Jerome Thiesson, once he gets to the U.S. from Switzerland.
The "supplemental roster" (spots 21-24) and "reserve roster" (spots 25-30) don't count toward that cap. Supplemental roster guys are senior minimum salary budget charge players, making $65,000, which could include homegrown players, generation Adidas players, etc. For United, that's forward Abu Danladi (generation Adidas), defender Brent Kallman, midfielder Ish Jome and defender Joe Greenspan.
Reserve roster right now is just midfielder Collin Martin. Reserve roster guys have to be 24 or younger and either make the reserve minimum salary of $53,000 or be a homegrown players earning more than that because of the homegrown player subsidy. Martin falls into that latter category, as he was a homegrown player at D.C. United and maintains that status after his trade to United.
Drafted defender Thomas de Villardi will end up on the reserve roster as well, once his contract is completed.
Also of note are the international slots. United has 10 available, and once Thiesson arrives, there will be 11 international players. But United is still good on that number after placing midfielder Bernardo Anor on the disabled list. Anor had a hamstring injury back in January's preseason trip to Arizona, but there is likely something else going on, as he's been out for more than a month now.
And, don't be fooled by how MLS listed the internationals. Midfielder Mohammed Saeid is an international and midfielder Kevin Molino, who has a green card, is not.
