Miami’s Lionel Messi earned the salaries of more than 22 other MLS teams in 2024

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi earned more than the entire payroll of 22 other Major League Soccer teams, and Olivier Giroud has total annual compensation of $3,675,000 under the contract he signed to join Los Angeles FC in July.

The Major League Soccer Players Association released its salary update on Thursday and Messi’s base salary of $12 million and Inter Miami’s total compensation of $20,446,667 remained the same as the initial list in May.

These figures cover what Messi receives from his MLS contract, which runs through the 2025 season, including all marketing bonuses and brokerage fees. They do not take into account any additional agreements with the team or its affiliates or any performance bonuses.

Miami, the league’s regular-season Supporters Shield winner, led the league with a record payroll of $41.7 million, twice as much as all but Toronto ($31.8 million), Los Angeles FC ($22.1 million), LA Galaxy ($22 million) and Nashville ($21.9 million). ).

The players from Cincinnati ($21 million) and Houston ($20.5 million) also scored more overall than Messi.

Montreal ($11.4 million), Philadelphia ($13.8 million) and Dallas ($13.9 million) are among the lowest payrolls.

Giroux, a 38-year-old striker, moved to Los Angeles from AC Milan on a free transfer in July. He has an annual salary of $2.8 million for 2024.

Miami midfielder Sergio Busquets is second in the league with a salary of $8,499,996 and has a total compensation of $8,774,996. Toronto winger Lorenzo Insigne has a salary of $7.5 million and total compensation of $15.4 million.

Other notable players who moved to MLS during the summer transfer window included Houston forward Ezequiel Ponce ($2.56 million salary, $2,822,200 total compensation), St. Louis midfielder Marcel Hartel ($1,797,600, $2,183,113), Atlanta midfielder Alexey Miranchuk ($2.4 million, $3,685,441) and Salt Lake midfielder Diogo Gonçalves ($1.65 million, $1,797,108) , Minnesota forward Kelvin Yeboah ($1,225,000), New York Red Bulls midfielder Felipe Carballo ($1.02 million, $1,169,777), Cincinnati defender Chidozie Awaziem ($1.08 million, $1,205,675), Austin winger Osman Bukari ($1 million) and LA Galaxy midfielder Marco Reus ( 960,000 US dollars, 1,216,667 US dollars).

Among the Americans returning to MLS were Colorado right-back Reggie Cannon ($750,000, $841,500) and Charlotte defender Tim Ream ($500,000, $577,500).

Former New England forward Jozy Altidore was listed as an MLS pool player with a salary of $1,683,750 and total compensation of $2,242,574. Former Toronto player Michael Bradley was listed as retired with a salary and total compensation of $725,000.

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