WARNING: Article may not be suitable for Chicago Fire or Toronto FC fans!
Tom Bogert and Jeff Rueter of the Athletic released an article on how every team in Major League Soccer did with designated players and the value they provided. They estimated the transfer fees for each team’s DP and added their guaranteed compensation from the MLSPA to get the discretionary spending.
The team getting by far the best value for their DPs is Columbus Crew. Their total discretionary spending on Cucho Hernandez, Lucas Zelarayan (and later Diego Rossi), and Darlington Nagbe amounted to $23 million, but they got the most minutes and second most goals and assists from their DP tandem. Only Philadelphia’s DPs scored more goals and only Atlanta’s tallied more assists.
Inter Miami spent the most in terms of discretionary spending at $27.3 million, but over $20M of that is Lionel Messi’s guaranteed compensation and he came on a free transfer as did Sergio Busquets. Jordi Alba is not the third DP (that is Gregore). So, their DP grades are largely incomplete.
The team with the lowest payroll in MLS, Orlando City, got their DP production mostly from Facundo Torres. Martin Ojeda is not a full-time starter, but it wasn’t a bad debut season for him according to the Athletic.
Philadelphia’s DP’s–Daniel Gazdag, Julian Carranza, and Mikael Uhre–combined for 37 goals this regular season which topped the league. It was certainly a significant DOOP for their buck as the Union spent just $7.6 million in fees and compensation.
Seattle has had great production and success with Raul Ruidiaz and Nico Lodeiro who have been with the club a combined 14 seasons. However, both are expected to depart after the season leaving the Sounders with two big vacancies to fill.
Toronto FC’s DPs were a disaster in 2023 to put it mildly. Lorenzo Insigne and Fernando Bernardeschi both made a combined $21.7M and scored a combined nine goals. Jonathan Osorio is the third DP for Toronto for those remotely interested.
However, when it has come to designated players, no team has had it worst with them than Chicago Fire FC. There have been gems such as Cuauhtemoc Blanco, David Accam, Nemanja Nikolic, and Bastian Schweinsteiger; but apart from Blanco, the other three’s contributions seemed all fleeting. The Fire have had 21 designated players in their history (most of any team). Only five of them–the aforementioned in this paragraph plus Gaston Gimenez–have lasted three seasons with the Fire. The others in the past have not panned out in the slightest (table from Wikipedia).
| Player | Previous club | Years as DP |
|---|---|---|
 Cuauhtémoc Blanco |
América |
2007–2009 |
 Freddie Ljungberg |
 Seattle Sounders FC |
2010 |
| Nery Castillo |
 Shakhtar Donetsk |
2010 |
 Álvaro Fernández |
Seattle Sounders FC |
2012–2013 |
 Sherjill MacDonald |
 Germinal Beerschot |
2012–2013 |
| Federico Puppo |
Danubio |
2012–2014 |
| Egidio Arévalo Ríos |
Tijuana |
2013 |
 Juan Luis Anangonó |
El Nacional |
2013–2014 |
 Gilberto |
 Toronto FC |
2015–2016 |
 David Accam |
Helsingborg |
2015–2017 |
 Shaun Maloney |
 Wigan Athletic |
2015 |
 Kennedy Igboananike |
AIK |
2015–2016 |
 Nemanja Nikolić |
 Legia Warsaw |
2017–2019 |
 Bastian Schweinsteiger |
Manchester United |
2017–2019 |
 Aleksandar Katai |
 Alavés |
2019 |
 Robert Bericć |
 Saint-Étienne |
2020–2021 |
 Ignacio Aliseda |
Defensa y Justicia |
2020–2021 |
 Gastón Giménez |
Vélez Sarsfield |
2020–2022 |
 Xherdan Shaqiri |
Lyon |
2022– |
| Jairo Torres |
Atlas |
2022– |
 Ousmane Doumbia |
Lugano |
2023– |
This year’s crop is no exception with the third biggest amount of discretionary spending (only Miami and Atlanta spent more). Bogert and Reuter called it “absolutely the worst money-spent-for-production DP situation in the league.”
Xherdan Shaqiri has not played up to his $8 million salary. Jairo Torres came with $6 million transfer fee and has 0 goal and 0 primary assists in 41 matches in all competitions. It’s hard to imagine someone could have been a worst DP from Mexico than Nery Castillo, but here we are. Ousmane Doumbia was loaned in as a DP and would not be if the transfer is made permanent. Gaston Gimenez was a DP when he came in 2020, but that tag was off in 2023. He has still not been worth the money.
What frustrates Fire fans the most about this is that this has spanned across two owners and multiple heads of soccer operation. The current owner needs to sack the current sporting director and hire someone who will make better use of the former’s money. Otherwise, more and more fans will continue their disinvestment from the club–making people wonder if the Fire should go the way of Chivas USA.
(Editor’s Note: This reporter disagrees with that sentiment.)
So there’s the best and the worst as signing designated players. Teams like Philadelphia, Columbus, and Seattle have done well with their money towards DPs, teams like Toronto have not, and Chicago is on another level that’s below sea level.
