Sporting KC Have Already Spent Big, Even Without Mo Salah

Have you heard the news? Sporting Kansas City are rumored to be trying to sign former Liverpool and current Egyptian National Team star, Mo Salah.

The reporters of the rumor immediately called it a longshot and new Sporting KC majority owner Peter Mallouk agreed but added, “there are no limitations on what is possible.” For the son of Egyptian immigrants, his story is already pretty unlikely.

Who is Sporting KC Minority Owner Peter Mallouk?

Mallouk is a first generation American who is estimated to have a net worth of $16.1 billion. A guy like that probably sees almost anything as possible. Maybe Mo Salah tells him no. It’s clearly not going to stop him from pushing to improve things at Sporting KC in a hurry.

“Promises made will be promises kept,” said Mallouk on Twitter on Friday. “Lots of conversations happening. One way or another, this team will be significantly better in the second half [of the season], much better by the sprint season.”

When speaking with Forbes, he said, “the checkbook is wide open.”

But even with all that money, Mo Salah may not come to Kansas City. Frankly, he probably won’t. It’s a longshot, remember? That certainly doesn’t mean Mallouk won’t keep trying.

Multiple outlets have reported, in addition to the Salah rumor, Sporting KC are negotiating two different transfers that would be some of the richest the league has ever seen. The Athletic reports the offers are between $18 and $20 million.

The targets? Toulouse winger Yann Gboho, who is a dual national of France and the Ivory Coast. And Brazilian winger Andre Luiz, who currently plies his trade in Greece.

Those might fall through too. But the ambition is there. The attempts to raise the bar are there. Mallouk says, “this is not a multi-year turnaround.”

The Spending Has Already Started

Even without any of the above rumors coming to fruition, Sporting KC have spent. It came slower and later than anyone wanted, but it’s happening.

This offseason was supposed to be revolutionary. Huge turnover under near leadership and a new coach.

But by the time the 2026 MLS season started, Sporting KC hadn’t gotten much done. They mostly added players off the fringes of other MLS rosters and kids. And it showed. The team sits dead last in the Western Conference on just 11 points through 14 games.

Buying the Basement*: Analyzing Sporting KC’s Spending with Limited Early Returns

But since the season has started, players have trickled in. First came Norwegian midfielder Lasse Berg Johnsen for a rumored €3.5 million transfer fee. Then came Angolan winger Capita Capemba for a rumored €2 million fee. He was followed four days later by Brazilian center back Diego Borges for another €1.7 million.

Whether it was them arriving late, the team around them or a multitude of other issues, the results haven’t yet come.

More Moves Have Happened

President of Soccer Operations, David Lee, had more work to do. Some reports had him aiming to sign four to seven new starting caliber players. So far, Israeli center back Or Blorian has arrived on a free transfer in a move that was announced months ago. That same rumor said Lee wasn’t counting Blorian in his totals.

Outside of that, Sporting KC announced the signings of left back Emir Karic and center back Moises Mosquera.

Two down, two to five to go.

How Much Has Been Spent So Far?

The actual total is going to be tough to come by.

Let’s focus on transfer fees. One place we can look for that data is Transfermarkt. It’s not always perfectly reliable, as they have some fees that were reported in dollars, listed in Euros. They also have Dejan Joveljic’s fee from 2025, which we know is $4 million, slightly off. But it’s the best we’ve got.

Approximately $12.98 million in fees is nothing to scoff at. A few more moves (or one really big one) and Sporting KC will have more than doubled their all-time outlay in fees. If you jump back one more season, it’s rumored SKC spent about $9 million combined on Dejan Joveljic, Manu Garcia and Shapi Suleymanov. Rumblings behind the scenes said Mallouk may have been responsible for all or some of that too.

These two years are the majority of the spending in the entire history of this club.

Before that, its approximately another $12 million the year Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda joined. And all the other fees in club’s history for the other 24 years are no more than a few million, tops.

The way the team spends on players has drastically changed in the last 18 months.

And this isn’t meant to disparage prior ownership. They spent big on building Sporting Park and the world class training facility at Compass Minerals National Performance Center. Not to mention another $11 to $19 million per season on salaries for many of the last few years.

But what Mallouk is doing is different.

When are More Players Coming?

The Major League Soccer secondary transfer window doesn’t even officially open until Monday. But with play not resuming until Thursday night in St. Louis, it just needs to open before games are played. We know Blorian is available to play, and the club is still working on visas for Karic and Mosquera.

Eventually Mosquera and Karic will step on the field. But what about even more additions?

Even though the summer transfer window is about to open, the caveat is the window stays open later this year. It closes on September 2nd. It’s actually quite genius from MLS and it’s a shame it took this long to extend the summer window.

Players who don’t end up on teams in Europe (or elsewhere), could move on free transfers to MLS and help fill out rosters. In prior seasons, the MLS window closed before many around the world, and they couldn’t acquire these cheaper or free players (not counting their salaries, of course).

While Mallouk wants KC to be good quickly, a tiny bit more patience is probably warranted. They can’t spend transfer fees on everyone. It just won’t work with the MLS rosters rules and budget. It makes sense to wait and get guys on free transfers.

It’s better to sacrifice the present a tiny bit and avoid destroying the future budget.

Hopefully Sporting KC goes on an epic run. But the reality is, they are gearing up for seasons ahead and just need to show progress this season.

Still, money has been spent. More money will be spent. And when you get in an argument with your buddy that says something like, “Sporting KC are cheap.” Or “ownership would never.” Send them this story. They already have and Mallouk is clearly not done yet.

Update: An earlier version of this story had some equation errors in the transfer fees that have been fixed and bumped down slightly.