Through various trades and sales, the Seattle Sounders stockpiled Allocation Money (both Targeted Allocation and General Allocation). Those funds can be used to pay down the salary cap hit for signings and/or pay a player over their reported salary. According to Kristian Dyer of MSG Networks the Sounders have one of the two biggest pools of allocation money in MLS with $900,000 available, give or take a couple dollars.
This makes sense. President and General Manager Garth Lagerwey indicated in the preseason that the organization had enough funds to sign a full season Designated Player and pay down Osvaldo Alonso’s cap hit below the max.