Twice a year, the MLS Players Association releases the base salary and total guaranteed compensation for every player contract in the league. The release gives some insight into teams’ ambitions and flexibility under MLS’s byzantine salary cap and roster rules.
According to data released today, the Fire’s current wage bill is $21,733,136, good for the 10th-highest figure in the 30 team league. That’s a drop of just under $1.4 million from the team’s wage bill last October, when the Fire were the fifth highest spenders.
The change is largely due to the departure of several highly-paid players in the offseason including midfielders Kellyn Acosta (who earned $1.6 million with the Fire last year), Brian Gutiérrez (who earned $950k) and Rominigue Kouamé (at $694k).
For the first time, we know what their replacements on the Fire’s roster earn.
New Chicago Fire FC Player Salaries
| Name | Guaranteed Compensation |
|---|---|
| Josh Cohen | $181,250 |
| Puso Dithejane | $283,252 |
| Robin Lod | $866,667 |
| Mbekezeli Mbokazi | $655,620 |
| Anton Salétros | $750,000 |
| Jason Shokalook | $88,025 |
Compared to their predecessors in the midfield, newcomers Anton Salétros (at $750k) and Robin Lod (at $867k) earn a combined $1,616,667 – that's slightly less than the $1,628,477 that Acosta earned in 2025.
We now know what the Fire's pair of U22 Initiative South Africans earn: Puso Dithejane is being paid $283,252 guaranteed this year, while Mbekezeli Mbokazi is set to earn $655,620 in 2026.
In addition to the new players, most of the Fire's returning roster have new compensation numbers.
In some cases, the difference is minor (Chris Brady's reported guaranteed compensation has gone up by $4 – yes, four dollars above the figure reported last year). Philip Zinckernagel saw his $1.6 million in wages go up by $4,375.
| Name | Guaranteed Comp (2026) |
Change vs. 2025 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leonardo Barroso | $395,500 | $50,000 | 15% |
| Dean Boltz | $90,025 | $7,403 | 9% |
| Dylan Borso | $121,400 | $32,778 | 37% |
| Chris Brady | $348,333 | $4 | 0% |
| Christopher Cupps | $116,186 | $32,778 | 39% |
| Djé D'Avilla | $685,486 | $24,996 | 4% |
| Jonathan Dean | $210,700 | $72,533 | 53% |
| Jack Elliott | $1,054,275 | $45,738 | 5% |
| André Franco | $1,306,771 | $609,688 | 88% |
| Jeff Gal | $165,000 | $25,000 | 18% |
| Omari Glasgow | $127,085 | $9,400 | 8% |
| Andrew Gutman | $625,000 | $25,000 | 4% |
| Maren Haile-Selassie | $483,500 | $56,000 | 13% |
| Chris Mueller | $186,600 | -$575,716 | -76% |
| Sergio Oregel | $392,500 | $279,100 | 246% |
| Mauricio Pineda | $320,157 | -$155,012 | -33% |
| David Poreba | $98,858 | $10,111 | 11% |
| Viktor Radojević | $357,000 | $50,000 | 16% |
| Sam Rogers | $223,000 | $80,000 | 56% |
| Robert Turdean | $157,927 | $44,378 | 39% |
| Joel Waterman | $598,150 | $42,750 | 8% |
| Sam Williams | $99,354 | $7,403 | 8% |
| Philip Zinckernagel | $1,635,665 | $4,375 | 0% |
Other players received far more significant boosts: Jonathan Dean's compensation under his new deal is now $210,700, a bump of 53% over what he made last year, while Sergio Oregel Jr. nearly tripled his wages to $392,500 after a breakout campaign in 2025 that saw him lay over 2,000 minutes across 30 appearances after not having a single minute in MLS play over the previous two seasons.
The biggest bump, however, came for midfielder André Franco. Now on a permanent deal after coming to the Fire on loan, Franco is set to earn just over $1.3 million this year - nearly double what he earned last year. Franco suffered an ACL injury last fall and has yet to feature for the Fire this year.
The injury, however, gave the Fire an opportunity to renegotiate his purchase option with FC Porto, paving the way for his current deal while still staying compliant with the league's salary cap rules.
Not all players saw bumps: Chris Mueller's wages dropped sharply after a non-sports-related health issue kept him from making an appearance for the Fire last year. His new deal with the Fire reduces the cap hit for the team while still giving the Chicagoland native an opportunity to continue his pro career after a difficult past few seasons. Fellow local product Mauricio Pineda also saw his wages drop under his new contract that provides the veteran with long-term stability.
The updated wages, however, do not tell the Fire's complete story under the salary cap: Transfer fees are also included in the calculations for most players, while the league's various roster categories limit the cap hit of many players.
The Fire's two young South African talents, for example, are in U22 Initiative slots on the Fire's roster that makes their cap hit just $200,000.
Not having close insights into transfer fees and many of the roster cap machinations that can occur makes ascertaining a team's salary ca p information virtually impossible from the publicly-released data.
