Elliott gets a raise, Przybylko “on loan” and other observations from the Union roster

Third-year defender Jack Elliott is seeing a bump in pay of at least $10,000 this season after being moved from the reserve roster to a senior roster spot and Kacper Przybylko has been listed “on loan” to meet international roster rules to start the season.

Those are just a couple of the observations that can be made from the Union’s roster that was posted on the MLS website late Friday after the league-wide roster compliance deadline.

Elliott and Kacper Przybylko were both promoted to senior roster spots in order to meet the league minimum of 18 on-budget roster spots. Elliott was paid $59,629.50 last season, according to salary information released in October by the players union. The minimum salary for a senior player is $70,250 this season.

Przybylko is also seeing a pay bump of at least $2,750 since he was paid $67,500 last season while occupying a supplemental roster spot. The 25-year-old from Germany will have to wait at least another week to make his MLS debut as he is listed as “on loan” and unavailable on the roster. He didn’t feature at all last season after being signed in September.

Though the roster doesn’t indicate if the loan is to Steel, they play Red Bulls II today in a scrimmage that’s closed to the public. The Union currently has nine international players for eight slots but Sporting Director Ernst Tanner said recently that he is anticipating two players getting green cards and no longer counting as internationals.

In addition to the two open senior roster spots, the team has three open reserve roster spots and one open designated player spot (this means David Accam’s salary, which was $1.2 million last season, has been again bought down to below the DP threshold, which is $530,000 this season). Reserve and supplemental roster spots don’t count toward the salary cap.

New homegrown additions Brenden Aaronson and Matthew Freese are both filling supplemental roster spots along with homegrown players Derrick Jones and Auston Trusty, who moved from the reserve roster to the supplemental roster.

The Union have a total of 25 players on the roster to start the season, which is tied with four other teams for the third smallest rosters in the league. Seattle Sounders have 23 players on their roster to start the season and D.C. United 24.

The average age of the roster is 25.32, which is slightly older than the 25.11 average age to start the 2018 season.