SEATTLE - Employing one of the best soccer players in the history of the game comes with a high price. According to the MLS Players Association salary data released on May 16, Lionel Messi earned a little over $20.4 million in his first full season playing for MLS team Inter Miami. His salary alone constitutes half of Miami's entire payroll.
Inter Miami leads the league with a $41.7 million payroll, more than $10 million more than the second-highest team on this list (Toronto $31.4 million). In his first year of the two-and-a-half-year deal he signed with Inter Miami in 2023, Messi earned more than 27 of the teams currently playing in Major League Soccer. Toronto, Chicago and Nashville are the only teams with a higher payroll than what Messi receives from Inter Miami.
