Real Salt Lake: Team has 10 players making at least 6 figures

Real Salt Lake's commitment to depth was revealed tangibly when the Major League Soccer Players Union released its player salaries for the 2008 season last week.

Midfielder Javier Morales' team-high $240,000 salary is the lowest of any team leader in MLS. Conversely, 10 of the team's 28 players are making at least six figures this year, tied with Houston for tops in the league.

While several MLS teams have taken the approach of surrounding several superstars with bargain-basement players, RSL is hoping its collection of middle-income talent pays dividends in 2008.

RSL's second-highest-paid player is newcomer Dema Kovalenko at $200,000, followed by Matias Mantilla ($153,000), Kyle Beckerman ($143,000) and Kenny Deuchar ($135,000). Other players making six figures are Nik Besagno, Nat Borchers, Matias Cordoba, Ian Joy and Carey Talley.

Besagno's salary does not count against the roughly $2.3 million salary cap because he's still classified as a Generation Adidas player. Tony Beltran, Alex Nimo and Chris Seitz are also Generation Adidas players. Colombian defender Jamison Olave's salary wasn't included among the salaries posted on the players union's Web site.

Until last year, player salaries weren't made public, even though they were inevitably leaked to the media. The purpose of making the salaries public was to benefit the players.

"I think it's good for the players to know other people's salaries. You go into negotiate a lot of times and you want to know if you're a defender probably what the range of defenders salaries are," said Talley. "I think for fans to have it and things like that, I don't think there's any reason for it. As far as the players, I think it's good."

Not surprisingly, David Beckham is the league's highest-paid player again at $5.5 million. His salary falls under a designated player contract, a rule in which only $400,000 counts against the salary cap. Each MLS team is allowed one designated player spot, even though they can be traded away.

Other designated players include Chicago's Cuauhtemoc Blanco ($2.4 million), D.C. United's Marcelo Gallardo ($1.5 million), Kansas City's Claudio Lopez (undisclosed), New York's Juan Pablo Angel ($1.5 million) and Claudio Reyna ($1 million). In the second year of the designated player, only five of the league's 14 teams have utilized it.

With each MLS team allowed eight foreigners on its roster, Real Salt Lake defender Chris Wingert believes that more and more of the money is being paid to them instead of American players.