Lionel Messi is again the top earner in Major League Soccer, with $28.3m in guaranteed compensation for the 2026 season under a contract extension signed with Inter Miami last October. The figures, released Tuesday by the MLS Players Association, put Messi's base salary at $25m, more than double that of the league's next-highest earner, BBC Sport reported.
LAFC's Son Heung-min ranks second at $11.2m in guaranteed earnings on a $10.4m base, the BBC Sport report said, with Inter Miami midfielder Rodrigo De Paul third at $9.7m. Only one club in MLS spends more across its entire roster than Inter Miami pays Messi alone, the Guardian reported, and LAFC is the only other team rostering an eight-figure earner. The salary lists exclude transfer fees and endorsement income; the Guardian reported Messi's figures also do not include the equity option in Inter Miami he negotiated as part of his original 2023 move, nor income from Apple streaming subscriptions and Adidas and Fanatics jersey sales.
Messi, who turns 39 next month, has scored 59 goals in 64 regular-season MLS appearances since joining the Florida franchise in 2023, BBC Sport reported, and helped Miami win the MLS Cup in 2025. He led the league with 29 goals last season and was named Most Valuable Player in each of his two full seasons in North America. Inter Miami is co-owned by David Beckham. One of the lowest wage bills in the league belongs to Sporting Kansas City at $12.4m — less than half of what Inter Miami pays Messi by himself, the Guardian reported, and San Diego FC's Hirving Lozano, benched for behavioural reasons and told he would not play for the club again, remains guaranteed $9.3m this season without taking the field.
Figures referenced: Lionel Messi. — JudgeMarket.
