Designated players. Targeted Allocation Money and General Allocation Money. These players can push a team across that critical playoff line. But, those players can also be colossal failures (**cough** Vadim Demidov **cough**.) Minnesota United came in to MLS with a bump in TAM for being an expansion team, and the Loons certainly used it. . . .
While there were the potential failures in Demidov and Rasmus Schuller, MNUFC also utilized their TAM pretty well through the remainder of the season. Obviously, MNUFC was brilliant in trading for Kevin Molino for $650,000 in TAM, but remember that Demidov was paid $550,000.