Lionel Messi remains Major League Soccer's highest-paid player after his contract extension with Inter Miami, with the latest salary figures released on Tuesday showing a $25m base salary and about $28.3m in guaranteed compensation. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Son Heung-min is the league's second-highest paid player, with a base salary of $10.4m and guaranteed compensation of $11.2m, well behind Messi's reported $28.3m total. One report summed it up: "$28.3m Messi is MLS’s top earner again, making more than twice as much as Son." [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Messi signed the extension with Inter Miami in October, and it runs through the 2028 season. One report said the deal "will keep him with the Florida outfit through the 2028 campaign." Messi joined Miami in 2023 and has scored 59 goals in 64 MLS regular-season games for the club. [1, 3, 4, 5]
The salary figures do not include endorsement income, and some reports said they also leave out other off-field earnings such as streaming subscription or jersey-sale revenue. Inter Miami also leads the league in total payroll, with guaranteed compensation reported at about $54.6m, far ahead of LAFC's roughly $32.7m. Philadelphia Union had the lowest spend at about $11.7m. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Messi led MLS with 29 goals last season and was named the league's Most Valuable Player for a second straight year. The Argentine helped Miami win the MLS Cup in 2025, and the salary release on Tuesday kept him at the top of the league's pay table. [1, 3, 5]
