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Seattle Sounders FC pursued Nicolas Lodeiro for several months. Getting their man took not just time, but money. It’s a quite a bit of money. The massive near-six-million dollar fee is the second highest for a non-American/Mexican transferring into MLS. It’s the fifth highest ever.
Nicolás Lodeiro's Seattle deal: Close to $6 million transfer fee, salary of $6.1 million over 3.5 years.
— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) July 31, 2016
Nico’s transfer fee is nestled right between Giovanni Dos Santos and Robbie Keane. It is two million more than the Sounders spent to get Obafemi Martins. Diego Valeri’s fee was only half of what it took to nab Lodeiro.
| Player | Fee | Year |
| Michael Bradley | $10 Million | 2014 |
| Clint Dempsey | $9 Million* | 2013 |
| Jermaine Defoe | $7.2 Million | 2014 |
| Giovanni Dos Santos | $7 Million | 2015 |
| Nicolas Lodeiro | $6 Million | 2016 |
| Robbie Keane | $5.2 Million | 2011 |
| Lucas Melano | $5 Million | 2015 |
| Luis Hernandez | $4 Million | 2000 |
| Ariel Graziani | $4 Million | 2000 |
| Obafemi Martins | $4 Million | 2013 |
| Diego Valeri | $3 Million | 2013 |
His salary is merely 15th best in MLS this year (this uses an average annual value of 1.74 million and the 2016 salary release from May 19th).
The company that Nicolas Lodeiro is in, either when comparing his transfer fee or his salary is a who’s who of MLS.
Didier Drogba is the 14th highest paid player in the league. Gashi and Burrito are the first two players knocked down in the salary rankings.
A player with more than 12 million dollars in fees and salary has high expectations. Lodeiro will have until 2019 to fulfill them.