Quote Originally Posted by MikeForbes View Post
I could be wrong, my wife says it happens a lot, but I think the max he can be paid and still considered a u-22 player is 612k. We basically just freed that up by trading Delgado and his 580k.
My understanding of the rule (having no "capologist" credentials) is that an U22 can be paid $200k above the max (so, he can be paid $812k) and regardless, his cap hit will only be $200k. Furthermore, there is no allowable application of xAM to either reduce the $200k to the minimum $150k, nor to pay him more than $812k.

As such, my guess is he is being paid $812k, his cap hit is $200k, and we still have all our xAM.

Obviously MLSE doesn't care about the actual cash wages they pay (which is ideal for supporters), they care about managing/optimizing cap space.

So, this signing strikes me as really smart and a great use of the U22 slot. I would think the only criticism could be in the form of there being a better player than Ayo available for the slot. Of that I have no idea. But for sure he has a good agent, and for sure he would have had options. So I don't believe TFC was ever looking at being able to sign him for less than the U22 max of $812k. In the absence of a better player, this looks pretty good.

So net net, I love the deal. A bird in the hand....