Messi Doubles MLS Base Salary, Earns More Than Twice As Much As Any Other Player

Lionel Messimore than doubled his salary to $25 million in his new contract with Inter Miami and earns more than twice as much as the second-highest-paid player in Major League Soccer, Los Angeles FC's Son Heung-min.

Messi’s new contract includes $25 million in base salary and $28,333,333 in guaranteed compensation, the MLS Players Association said Tuesday in its first release of 2026 salaries.

Miami's $54.6 million payroll is more than $20 million higher than LAFC, which is second at $32.7 million, and nearly five times as much as Philadelphia's league-low $11.7 million. Miami's payroll is up from $46.8 million at the start of last season.

Toronto cut payroll to $21.4 million from $34.1 million at the start of 2025, and LAFC boosted its spending to $32.7 million from $22.4 million.

Total league compensation was $631 million and the average guaranteed compensation of $688,816 on April 16 was up 8.9% from $632,809 as of last Oct. 1.

Messi's initial MLS contract, agreed to in July 2023, included a $12 million base salary and annualized guaranteed compensation of $20,446,667. Messi agreed last October to a three-year contract through the 2028 season, then led the team to its first MLS title.

An attacker who turns 39 next month, Messi is captain of defending World Cup champion Argentina and is expected to play in his sixth World Cup. Messi has 59 goals in 64 regular-season games with Miami, including nine in 11 matches this season. He led MLS with 29 regular-season goals last season and won his second straight MVP award.

His salary figures are for his MLS contract and include any marketing bonus and agent’s fees but do not account for any additional agreements with the team or its affiliates, or for any performance bonuses.