New England Soccer Today

Kamara, Kouassi Top Revs Salaries; Nguyen Gets Big Raise

Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz

Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz

Kei Kamara’s $1 million contract is tops on the Revolution roster while Ivory Coast international Xavier Kouassi isn’t far behind after the MLS Players Union released its salary list on Thursday.

The newly-acquired striker signed a designated player deal with Columbus during the winter before he was jettisoned to the Revolution last week. He is only the second player in Revolution history to carry a seven-figure salary (Jermaine Jones being the first).

Midfielder Xavier Kouassi, who inked a designated player contract in February, will command a pro-rated $890,541 salary for 2016. Kouassi, who will officially join the club on Jul. 1, tore his ACL shortly after signing his pre-contract for the Revolution, and may miss the entire MLS season.

The biggest jump in salary is that of midfielder Lee Nguyen, who recently signed an extension that brought him from $175,000 to $500,000. The club reportedly used targeted allocation money to buy down Nguyen’s cap hit, and thus, was not required to use the designated player designation on the creative midfielder.

Center back Jose Goncalves ($479,000) and striker Juan Agudelo ($452,000) round out the Revolution’s top five salaries. Goncalves was quietly classified as a designated player earlier this season after it was revealed that the club was no longer buying down his cap number with allocation money.

The salaries of offseason additions Gershon Koffie and Je-Vaughn Watson were listed at $261,000 and $115,837, respectively.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Jones is currently commanding a salary of $650,000 with the Rapids after his contract feud with the Revolution front office paved the way for his trade to Colorado in March.

The 34-year-old midfielder made $3 million in 2015.

The full list of MLS player salaries can be found here.

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