Changes to Roster Rules

MLS has added two more players to teams' rosters, those two players though have to be home grown players, meaning they have to come from the team's youth system. The plan of the development is to push teams to develop their own players more. The first 18-20 senior roster players will count against the cap and make a minimum of $40,000 a year. Teams then have 4-6 protected players, these players can be Generation Adidas, or earning the minimum salary of $40,000. Two of these 6 potential spots though are reserved for home grown players. Meaning to get to the 26 roster mark, you have to have two home grown players on the roster.

To help continue the development, instead of the regular transfer rules the clubs get 75% of a transfer or loan deal of a home grown player. That's up from 66% that clubs get for regular players. The rules also change for GA players. GA players with 1 year in MLS, the club only gets 33%. Two years, the club and league split 50-50. Three years and clubs get the standard 66%.

What does this mean for the Wizards? I honestly don't think it means much currently. I don't think there are currently players in the Juniors system that are close to being ready to step up to the pro game. Meaning the Wizards will likely be sticking with the 24 man roster, not able to use those 2 extra spots. There may be some good college players that could eventually step up to the pro game, but I don't think there's anyone right now. The closest in the older groups may be Jon Kempin, who is playing on the 16's. Kempin was Kansas State High School boys soccer player of the year as a junior this past year and has spent time with the US U-17 national team. Unfortunately I don't think he's going to be quite ready for the pro game either. We'll have to see what happens though, but hopefully soon the Wizards we see the Juniors start to develop players that can be brought into the first team.