He was the first player in LAFC history, and has been the best.
If the franchise ever erects statues in Exposition Park, the first will be made in his image.
Carlos Vela is LAFC.
Saturday night, when LAFC hosts the Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference finals, the 34-year-old Vela could be playing his final home game at BMO Stadium.
This isn’t because Vela wants to retire.
This isn’t because Vela wants to move to another team.
This is because of Major League Soccer’s outdated salary structure.
Read more: How Denis Bouanga, Maxime Crepeau continue to deliver for LAFC
“I want [to return],” Vela said. “But I don’t decide that.”
Sentimentality is often a casualty in leagues with salary caps, but this is especially the case in MLS, in which roster-compliance rules allow for minimal flexibility on how teams can spend money.
Every MLS team can have as many as three designated players, each of whom can be paid as much as the club wants but counts for only $651,250 against its $5.21-million salary cap.
The most any other player can earn is less than $1.7 million.
“My part is there,” Vela said. “But if the other part doesn’t work or doesn’t work in the way that I want, I won’t be here.”
As one of LAFC’s two designated players — leading scorer Dénis Bouanga is the other — Vela was guaranteed $4.4 million this season. LAFC wants Vela back, just not necessarily as a designated player.
As a team with championship ambitions that’s also determined to raise its international profile, LAFC could be inclined to reserve its top-salary designations for players younger than Vela, who turns 35 in March.
But if Vela is stripped of his status, he would have to take more than a 60% pay cut to return. If Vela balked, would anyone blame him? He might not be the same player he was four years ago when he produced the greatest individual season in league history, but his goals-plus-assists total of 44 over the last two years ranks eighth-best in MLS.
League regulations offer no room for compromise.
None of this feels conducive to helping build the tradition of a…