NEW YORK (AP) — Lionel Messi’s annualized salary under his Major League Soccer contract with Inter Miami is just over $20.4 million in his first full season, surpassing the payrolls of all but three teams in the league.
Messi joined Inter Miami last summer and has a base salary of $10.4 million and annualized compensation of $20,446,667, the MLS Players Association said Thursday in its first salary release of 2024.
Those figures cover what Messi receives from his MLS deal, which runs through the 2025 season, including any marketing bonuses and agent fees. They do not represent any additional deals with the team or its affiliates, nor any performance bonuses.
Messi, who turns 37 next month, has 10 goals this season, one shy of the MLS lead.
Miami leads the league with a record $41.7 million payroll, twice as much as all but Toronto ($31.4 million) and Chicago ($25.1 million). Nashville’s $21.4 million roster also earns more than Messi.
Messi’s teammates include midfielder Sergio Busquets ($8,774,996) and forward Luis Suarez and left-back Jordi Alba ($1.5 million each).
St. Louis has the lowest payroll among the 29 teams at $12 million, just below Salt Lake and San Jose at $13.6 million each.
The LA Galaxy cut their payroll to $17.9 million from $23.5 million at the start of last year and Atlanta to $16.7 million from $21.3 million. Toronto raised its payroll from a league-high $25.7 million at the start of 2023 and Nashville increased it from $14 million.
Toronto winger Lorenzo Insigne ranks second in compensation at $15.4 million, followed by Busquets, Chicago midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri at $8,153,000, Austin midfielder Sebastian Driussi at $6,722,500, Toronto winger Federico Bernardeschi at $6,295,381 and New York Red Bulls midfielder Emil Forsberg at $6,035,625.
Among this year’s MLS newcomers are Chicago forward Hugo Cuypers ($3,528,044) and LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris ($350,000).
The average base salary of $513,075 for senior roster players, not including designated players who count only partially under a team’s salary cap, rose 8.4% from $473,292 at the start of last year. Total guaranteed compensation averaged $594,389.
Total compensation for all signed players was $519 million, up 12.8% from $460 million at the start of last season and $394 million at the start of 2022.
Among U.S. national team players, Nashville defender Walker Zimmerman received total compensation of $3,456,979, Dallas forward Jesus Ferreira $2,204,000, Seattle winger Jordan Morris $1,693,750, Colorado midfielder Djordje Mihailovic $1,675,000, Cincinnati defender Miles Robinson $1,578,580, Seattle midfielder Cristian Roldan $1,541,000 and Cincinnati right back DeAndre Yedlin $898,750.
