Lionel Messi doubles salary with new Inter Miami deal, set to earn 25 million dollars
Lionel Messi's new Inter Miami contract lifts his base salary to $25 million and keeps him miles clear atop MLS. The figures also expose Miami's financial muscle, with the club's payroll well beyond every rival.
Lionel Messi has more than doubled his base salary under a new Inter Miami contract, widening the gap between himself and the rest of Major League Soccer’s top earners.
Figures released by the MLS Players Association for the 2026 season show Messi now earning a base salary of 25 million US dollars, with guaranteed compensation of 28.33 million US dollars. That makes the Inter Miami star the league’s highest-paid player by a huge margin, earning more than twice as much as second-placed Son Heung-min of Los Angeles FC.
Son earns a base salary of 10.37 million US dollars, with total compensation of 11.15 million US dollars.
Messi’s previous MLS deal, signed in 2023, included a base salary of 12 million US dollars. The Argentine agreed to a new three-year contract with Inter Miami last October, which runs through the 2028 season.
The 39-year-old has been a transformative figure for the club since arriving in the United States. Messi led Inter Miami to their first MLS title last season and has scored 59 goals in 64 regular-season matches. He has already netted nine goals in 11 games this campaign.
The salary figures also highlight Inter Miami’s financial muscle compared to the rest of the league. The club’s payroll now stands at 54.6 million US dollars, more than 20 million US dollars higher than Los Angeles FC, whose total payroll is 32.7 million US dollars.
Philadelphia have the lowest payroll in the league at 11.7 million US dollars, meaning Miami are spending nearly five times as much on player wages.
Across MLS, total player compensation has reached 631 million US dollars, while the average guaranteed compensation has risen by 8.9 per cent to 688,816 US dollars.
Inter Miami midfielder Rodrigo de Paul is third on the salary list, earning 7.57 million US dollars in base salary and 9.69 million US dollars in total compensation.
Other big earners include Atlanta’s Miguel Almiron, San Diego’s Hirving Lozano, New York Red Bulls midfielder Emil Forsberg and Nashville striker Sam Surridge.
The figures released by the MLS Players Association include players’ MLS salaries, marketing bonuses and agent fees, but do not account for additional commercial agreements or performance bonuses.
Messi’s latest contract further underlines his unmatched status in MLS, both as the league’s biggest star and its highest-paid player.