Matchday

Lionel Messi leads 2024 player salaries guide: MLS Players Association

24-MLSPA-Salary-Dump

The MLS Players Association (MLSPA) has released its 2024 Salary Guide, featuring salary information for all MLS players under contract as of April 25, 2024.

The guide contains players’ current annualized base salary and their annualized average guaranteed compensation.

Inter Miami CF superstar Lionel Messi leads the pack, ahead of Toronto FC's Lorenzo Insigne. Sergio Busquets (Inter Miami), Xherdan Shaqiri (Chicago Fire FC) and Sebastián Driussi (Austin FC) complete the top five.

See the top 25 below, as sorted by guaranteed compensation.

MLSPA: Top 25 MLS player compensation (2024)
Name
Team
Guaranteed Compensation
1. Lionel Messi
Inter Miami CF
$20,446,667.00
2. Lorenzo Insigne 
Toronto FC
$15,400,000.00
3. Sergio Busquets
Inter Miami CF
$8,774,996.00
4. Xherdan Shaqiri
Chicago Fire FC
$8,153,000.00
5. Sebastián Driussi
Austin FC
$6,722,500.00
6. Federico Bernardeschi
Toronto FC
$6,295,381.00
7. Emil Forsberg
New York Red Bulls
$6,035,625.00
8. Héctor Herrera
Houston Dynamo FC
$5,246,875.00
9. Hany Mukhtar
Nashville SC
$5,211,667.00
10. Carles Gil
New England Revolution
$4,452,083.00
11. Christian Benteke
D.C. United
$4,432,778.00
12. Luis Muriel
Orlando City SC
$4,336,150.00
13. Luciano Acosta
FC Cincinnati
$4,216,413.00
14. Denis Bouanga
LAFC
$3,609,500.00
15. Alan Pulido
Sporting Kansas City
$3,600,000.00
16. Teemu Pukki
Minnesota United FC
$3,550,000.00
17. Hugo Cuypers
Chicago Fire FC
$3,528,044.00
18. Walker Zimmerman
Nashville SC
$3,456,979.00
19. Diego Rossi
Columbus Crew
$3,376,827.00
20. Joseph Paintsil
LA Galaxy
$3,358,000.00
21. Ryan Gauld
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
$2,985,000.00
22. Sam Surridge
Nashville SC
$2,907,639.00
23. Cucho Hernández
Columbus Crew
$2,886,000.00
24. Raúl Ruidíaz
Seattle Sounders FC
$2,729,120.00
25. Jonathan Rodríguez
Portland Timbers
$2,627,500.00

The annualized average guaranteed compensation (guaranteed comp) number includes a player's base salary and all signing and guaranteed bonuses annualized over the term of the player's contract, including option years.

The annualized average guaranteed compensation number also includes any marketing bonus and any agent's fees, but doesn’t include performance bonuses since there’s no guarantee players will hit those bonuses.