Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi celebrates scoring his crew’s second aim through the Main League Soccer common season match between Inter Miami CF and LA Galaxy at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on August 16, 2025. — AFP/File
LOS ANGELES: Lionel Messi stays the highest-paid participant in Main League Soccer with an annual base wage of $25 million — greater than twice as a lot because the next-highest paid participant Son Heung-min, the MLS Gamers Affiliation mentioned Tuesday.
The union’s newest listing of participant salaries mirrored the contract extension Messi signed with Inter Miami in October which can preserve him with the Florida outfit by way of the 2028 marketing campaign.
In line with the figures, Messi’s base wage has doubled whereas total the deal will see him make $28.3 million in assured compensation.
South Korea star Son, the previous Tottenham captain who signed with Los Angeles FC final August for a reported MLS file $26 million switch charge, has a base wage of $10.36 million with whole assured compensation of $11.2 million.
The salaries don’t embody revenue from endorsement offers, nor does Messi’s compensation mirror his choice to amass a stake within the Florida franchise — co-owned by David Beckham — which he joined in 2023.
The 38-year-old Messi, who is anticipated to steer Argentina’s World Cup title defence beginning subsequent month, has 59 targets in 64 MLS regular-season video games with Miami. He led the league with 29 targets final season and was named Most Worthwhile Participant for the second straight season.
Messi’s Inter Miami and Argentina teammate Rodrigo De Paul is third on the listing with $9.7 million in assured compensation.
Mexico’s Hirving “Chucky” Lozano is fourth on the listing with $9.3 million even though he hasn’t featured for San Diego since November.
Atlanta’s Miguel Almiron rounds out the highest 5 with assured compensation of $7.9 million.
Whole league compensation was listed at $631 million, with the common assured compensation $688,816 — an 8.9% rise from figures launched final October.
