Charlotte FC signs Derby County winger Kamil Jozwiak as its second Designated Player
Charlotte FC has announced the addition of Polish winger Kamil Jóźwiak to its 2022 roster.
The expansion Major League Soccer club has played two games so far this season, dropping both, and will next play at Atlanta at 4:30 p.m. Sunday (FS1).
Jóźwiak, who will fill a Designated Player spot, won’t be immediately available for that match as he works to secure his visa. He also continues to recover from an ankle injury, which is not expected to be long-term. A source close to the situation indicated that Jóźwiak’s full recovery will likely come around the same time as his visa process is completed, and could take a few weeks. That process took fellow Polish national team player Karol Świderski a little over a week once he was in Poland.
Jóźwiak, a native of Międzyrzecz, Poland, is in his home country after visiting Charlotte for the club’s inaugural home match at Bank of America Stadium last weekend. He is the third Polish player on Charlotte FC’s roster, joining forward Świderski and defender Jan Sobociński.
Jóźwiak, 23, scored three goals in 22 appearances for Poland’s men’s national team since making his debut for the senior squad in 2019.
He’s a former Derby County player in the English Championship and has signed with Charlotte to a Designated Player contract until 2025 with an option for 2026, pending receipt of his visa and international transfer certificate, which allows him to play in MLS.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. BBC Sports reported that the transfer fee was more than $1.3 million.
A Designated Player, or DP, is a league roster label that indicates a player’s salary and transfer fee exceeds the league’s Maximum Salary Budget charge of $612,500 this year. Teams are able to add up to three DPs and are responsible for paying the amount of compensation above that player’s salary budget.
Jóźwiak will be an international player on Charlotte’s roster. The club has 11 international roster slots and is filling all 11 with the addition of Jóźwiak. International players who receive green cards before July 7, when the secondary transfer window opens, are able to be considered domestic players for the season.
Charlotte FC this week also added midfielder Derrick Jones from the Houston Dynamo to its roster in exchange for general allocation money. As part of the deal, Charlotte is sending $250,000 in GAM to Houston for this year and Houston will receive 20 percent of any future transfer outside MLS. Charlotte receives $50,000 in GAM from Houston for 2023.
Jones is from Bantama, Ghana, but will be considered a homegrown player for Charlotte. He’s appeared in 64 regular-season MLS matches across his time with Houston, Nashville SC and Philadelphia Union.