Lionel Messi’s annualized pay from his MLS contract with Inter Miami is just over $20.4m in his first full season, exceeding the payrolls of all but four teams in the league.
Messi joined Inter Miami last summer and has a base salary of $10.4m and annualized compensation of $20,446,667, the MLS Players Association said on Thursday in its first salary release of 2024.
Those figures cover the amount Messi receives from his MLS deal, which runs through the 2025 season, including any marketing bonus and agent’s fees. They do not account for any additional agreements with the team or its affiliates, or for any performance bonuses. In addition, Forbes estimated Messi’s earnings from endorsements at $70m in the last year.
Messi’s teammates include Sergio Busquets ($8.8m), Luis Suárez and left back Jordi Alba ($1.5m each).
Messi, who turns 37 next month, has 10 goals this season, one shy of the MLS lead.
Miami lead the league with a $41.7m payroll, double all but Toronto ($31.4m) and Chicago Fire ($25.1m). Nashville’s roster, at $21.4m, also earn more than Messi. St Louis have the lowest payroll among the 29 teams at $12m, just below Salt Lake and San Jose at $13.6m each.
The LA Galaxy cut payroll from $23.5m at the start of last year to $17.9m and Atlanta from $21.3m to $16.7m. Toronto boosted payroll from a league-high $25.7m at the opening of 2023 and Nashville increased from $14m.
Toronto winger Lorenzo Insigne is second in compensation at $15.4m, followed by Busquets, Chicago midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri at $8.2m, Austin midfielder Sebastián Driussi at $6.7m, Toronto winger Federico Bernardeschi at $6.3m and New York Red Bulls midfielder Emil Forsberg at $6m.
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The average base salary of $513,075 for senior rosters players, not including designated players who count only partly under a team’s salary cap, was up 8.4% from $473,292 at the start of last year. Total guaranteed compensation averaged $594,389.
Total compensation of all signed players was $519m, up 12.8% from $460m at the start of last season and from $394m at the beginning of 2022.
Among US national team players, Nashville defender Walker Zimmerman had total compensation of $3.5m, Dallas forward Jesús Ferreira $2.2m, Seattle winger Jordan Morris $1.7m, Colorado midfielder Djordje Mihailovic $1.7m, Cincinnati defender Miles Robinson $1.6m, Seattle midfielder Cristian Roldan $1.5m and Cincinnati right-back DeAndre Yedlin $898,750.