Lionel Messi’s New Inter Miami Contract Makes Him MLS’s Highest Earner

Messi tops MLS salary list again

Lionel Messi remains MLS’s highest-paid player with a $25M base salary and $28.3M in guaranteed compensation. The MLS Players Association’s latest figures also show Son Heung-min second and league-wide pay up 8.9% year over year.

Behind Messi and Son, Rodrigo De Paul, Hirving Lozano and Miguel Almiron are the league’s next highest-paid players...

Lionel Messi is still the top earner in Major League Soccer, with a base salary of $25 million per year - over double what the league’s second-highest paid player, Son Heung-min, makes, according to the MLS Players Association’s update Tuesday.

The union’s latest salary release accounts for Messi’s contract extension with Inter Miami, agreed in October, which runs through the 2028 season.  

The figures show Messi’s base pay has doubled, and the deal guarantees him $28.3 million in total compensation.  

South Korea forward Son, who joined Los Angeles FC from Tottenham last August for a reported MLS-record $26 million fee, has a base salary of $10.36 million. His guaranteed compensation comes to $11.2 million.

The figures exclude earnings from endorsements, and Messi’s reported pay also doesn’t factor in his option to buy a share of Inter Miami, the club co-owned by David Beckham that he joined in 2023.

At 38, Messi is set to captain Argentina’s World Cup title defense starting next month. For Miami, he’s scored 59 goals in 64 MLS regular-season appearances. He topped the league with 29 goals last year and took home the MVP award for the second year running.

Rodrigo De Paul, Messi’s teammate at both Inter Miami and with Argentina, ranks third on the list with $9.7 million in guaranteed compensation.

Mexico international Hirving “Chucky” Lozano sits fourth at $9.3 million, even though he hasn’t played for San Diego since November.

💰 Highest-Paid Players in MLS 2026 (Guaranteed Compensation)

1. 🇦🇷 Lionel Messi — $28,333,333
2. 🇰🇷 Son Heung-min — $11,152,852
3. 🇦🇷 Rodrigo De Paul — $9,688,320
4. 🇲🇽 Hirving Lozano — $9,333,333
5. 🇵🇾 Miguel Almirón — $7,871,000
6. 🇸🇪 Emil Forsberg — $6,035,625
7.… pic.twitter.com/WwdtXiSLu0

— MLS Moves (@MLSMoves) May 12, 2026

Atlanta United’s Miguel Almirón completes the top five, with guaranteed pay of $7.9 million.

The league’s total compensation hit $631 million, pushing the average guaranteed salary to $688,816 - a 8.9% increase from the numbers released last October.