Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union Communications

After slogging through our attempt to anticipate what the Union’s 2026 Spring Roster Profile may look like, we realized that Keystone Sports and Entertainment may have spent eight figures acquiring four new players for 2026.

The roster profile estimate

We made an estimate of what the Philadelphia Union’s 2026 Spring Roster Profile might — repeat, might — look like.

We assume there will be no more first team roster acquisitions beyond the unofficial one that acquired highly probable status around midday Friday, February 13th.
We omit first names, and abbreviate, reword, or otherwise revise column headings and cell content to facilitate layout.
The right side of the document below follows MLS’s Roster Profile habits and is a separate column of important but secondary lists even though it is not set off from the main column on the left. Headings do not line up between the two.

We do not have the color and layout capabilities of MLS’s official website. Horizontal ranks cannot be differentiated by color to create tiers within the senior roster list.

We project three off-roster Homegrown signings from last year’s Philadelphia Union II team in advance of any such signings being announced. All three have appeared with the first team in preseason at least once, two went to Clearwater, and the third went to Spain.

PHILADELPHIA UNION ROSTER PROFILE (est Feb-13-26)

Roster Construction Model: U22 Player Model (2:4:GAM)

SENIOR ROSTER
Internat’l Slots

Name
Roster Designation
Current Status
ContrctThru
Last Optn
No.
Name

Damiani
D P

2028
’29
1
Alladoh
S

Alladoh
U22

2028
’30
2
 JeanJacques
DM

 Makhanya
U22

2027

3
Lukic
DM

Q Sullivan
U22

2027
’28
4
Makhanya
LCB

Ndinga
U22

5
Martinez
CB

Blake
TAM

2026
’27
6
 Sery Larsen
CB

Iloski
TAM

2027
’28
7
Anello
S/AM

Jean Jacques
TAM

2026
’28
8
Ndinga
LB

Anderson

on loan
2026
’28

Bedoya
PlyrPrfssnlDvlpmntRl

2026

D Ps

Bueno

2026
’27
No.
Name

Harriel

2026
’27
1
Damiani
S

Sery Larsen

2028-29
’29-30
2

Lukic

2026
’28
U22 Players

Martinez

2027-28
’29-30
No.
Name

Mbaizo

2026
’28
1
Makhanya
LCB

Vassilev

2028
’29
2
Q Sullivan
AM

Anello

2028-29
’29-30
3
Alladoh
S

Rafanello
Homegrown

2026
’28
4
Ndinga
LB

emergency

Uavailable Players

No.
Name

SUPPLEMENTAL ROSTER
1
Anderson
S/AM

Bender

June 2027
’27-28
2
Pierre
CB

Korzeniowski

2026
’28
Injury List

Marks

2026
’27-28
No.
Name

Olivas
Homegrown

2028
’29
2026 GAM 

Olney
Homegrown

2028
’29
?????????

Rick
Homegrown

2028
’29

With five new roster additions from outside MLS, we expect Union GAM is thoroughly depleted, even with the extra $2 million from the 2;4;GAM roster model  that we expect the Union has selected for 2026.

 

C Sullivan
Homegrown

2028

Sundstrom

2028
’30

Westfield
Homegrown

2028
’29

SUPPLEMENTAL ROSTER SLOT 31 (Year-long loan to Union II)

Moore
loaned from
Atlanta
w/Pur Opt

“UNAVAILABLE” OFF-ROSTER HOMEGROWNS

Davis

2027
’29

Pierre
loaned till
6/30/26
2028
’29

Jakupovic

Griffin

LeBlanc

Comments

In past years the Union has sometimes left a senior roster slot open in  case of an emergency, e.g., a catastrophic injury to a key player.

Alejandro Bedoya almost certainly continues his multiple roles with the front office as well as being a field player.

If the unofficial but highly reliable social media reports of Philippe Ndinga’s signing give correct details, the Union will use the 2;4;GAM roster model for the 2026 season because the Congolese is their fourth U22 player. The extra GAM from the 2:4:GAM model undoubtedly helped with the signing of five newcomers and the loan fees of a sixth (see below).

Has Philadelphia spent money?

First we update the financial details of the 2026 season.

In 2026 the maximum individual salary budget charge for a single player is $803 K.
The total senior roster salary budget is approximately $6.94 million.
The 2026 minimum senior roster salary for one player is $113,400.
The 2026 minimum supplemental roster salary for one player is $88,025.
Minimum performance bonuses for game-day roster inclusion, game appearances, starts, and goals are set forth in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

General Allocation Money (GAM) accumulates four basic ways.

The base allocation per club for 2026 is $3,280,000.
Clubs can convert up to $3,000,000 from realized transfer revenues into GAM. (Think Baribo’s $ 4 million and Wagner’s $ 2,5 million.)
An additional $2,000,000 of GAM accrues if a club chooses the 2;4;GAM roster development model. The Union must be using it for 2026 because they have four U22 initiative players.
Clubs may receive GAM in trades, as, for example, the Union did when they traded Jakob Glesnes to the LA Galaxy ($500,000 guaranteed in 2026 and $600,000 guaranteed in 2027.)

We assume that the details generated by Artificial Intelligence are correct, and that all of the $8,780,00 of GAM detailed above has been spent acquiring Ezekiel Alladoh ($ 4.5 million), Japhet Sery Larsen ($ 1.75 million), Agustin Anello (at least $2 million), Philippe Mdinga (reportedly around $2 million), Finn Sundstrom ($ 50 thousand), and Kaiden Moore (Unknown).

If the numbers AI generated above are anywhere close to correct, Philadelphia may have spent as much as ten and a quarter million dollars for four new players for the 2026 season.