Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi is MLS’ highest paid player, with a league-record annual guaranteed compensation of $20 million, the MLS Players Association announced on Wednesday.
That mark includes just Messi’s salary. Earlier this year, Miami co-owner Jorge Mas revealed to Spanish outlet El País that Messi’s total compensation, which includes a cut from the league’s Apple TV deal was in the $50m-$60m range.
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Messi’s midseason arrival, along with that of teammates Sergio Busquets ($1.775m) and Jordi Alba ($1.25m), vaulted the Herons to the top of the MLS team salary rankings, with total guaranteed compensation of $39.419m. That is more than double the $18.88m the team was spending this time last year.
Messi’s guaranteed salary is the highest in the history of MLS, beating out Toronto FC‘s Lorenzo Insigne, who is second on Wednesday’ list at $15.4m. The Chicago Fire‘s Xherdan Shaqiri ($8.15m), the LA Galaxy‘s Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez ($7.44m) and Toronto’s Federico Bernardeschi ($6.3m) round out the top five
All data is as of Sept. 15, 2023. The salary data was annualized for players like Messi who joined the league during the summer transfer window.
