Xiaoba Translator | TA’s interpretation of MLS salary: Son Heung-min’s annual salary exceeds 10 million, Messi is still the most expensive star

Recently, the Major League Baseball Players Association released its second salary update for the 2025 season, and the salary expenditures of the league's 30 teams were fully presented to everyone.

This update covers the signings of the summer transfer window, the most eye-catching of which is Los Angeles FC’s signing of Korean star Son Heung-min. It also updates the new contract that will take effect immediately this summer. It is worth noting that Messi’s new contract is not within the scope of this update. If you want to know the details, you have to wait for the first salary report in 2026.

Although Messi may hope that the entire major leagues can liberalize their budgets, his Inter Miami is still the most money-burning team in the league. After Toronto FC sent away two high-paid Italian players Insigne and Bernardeschi in the middle of the season, its ranking dropped sharply from second place in the spring to 27th now.

The following are the key points of this MLS salary report:

Revealing the salary of new summer signings

Sorted by contract amount, the top ten signings in the middle of this season are as follows. After the ranking, there are a few things to pay attention to. Meaning:

1. Son Heung-min, Los Angeles FC, $11.15 million

2. DePaul, Inter Miami, $3.67 million*

3. Nico Fernandez, New York City, $3.65 million

4. Verdi, Portland Timbers, $3.03 million

5. Mihajlovic, Toronto FC, $2.28 million

6. Aaronson, Colorado Rapids, $2.23 million

7. Abu Ali, Columbus Crew, $2.18 million

8. Ivan Jaime, Montreal CF, $1.99 million

9. Turner, New England Revolution, $1.94 million

10. Luvan Cruz, Real Salt Lake City, $1.86 million

*All data uses the players union guaranteed salary standard

* DePaul's basic salary is only $1.5 million, which does not meet the "designated player" standard (the type of player that can break the salary cap limit according to the rules, each team can introduce up to 3 such players), but the players union will include the bonus after triggering his buyout clause into his salary.

Los Angeles FC paid a transfer fee of US$26.5 million to Tottenham to sign Son Heung-min, setting a league record. Now his salary has been officially announced. With an annual salary of US$11.15 million, he becomes the second-highest-paid player in the league after Messi. Of course, Son Heung-min did have an immediate impact on and off the court. In 806 regular season minutes, he contributed 9 goals and 3 assists. Among them, the free kick against Dallas was voted the best goal of the season by the fans.

DePaul's contract is amortized from the time he signed, thus remaining under the "designated player" threshold. The buyout clause of only US$17 million ensures that he will become a "designated player" next season, and his salary is expected to be at the forefront of the league by then.

This operation triggered discussions among other clubs: Miami used "rental + buyout" to ensure salary compliance for the 2025 season. Although this approach is legal, it is similar to Vancouver's operation of giving Muller a guaranteed contract and retaining the "designated player" option in 2026, which makes some people dissatisfied. Muller's current annual salary is US$1.44 million, which will increase after becoming a "designated player" in 2026.

Mihajlovic received a new contract after moving from Colorado to Toronto FC this summer, and Aaronson, who replaced him, also received a similar salary.

Important signings that did not make the top ten also include Cincinnati's Brener ($280,000) and Philadelphia's Iloski ($553,000).

Messi continues to lead the salary list

As expected, Messi continues to lead the league with an annual salary of more than 20 million US dollars, which is more than twice that of other players (except Son Heung-min). He has handed over 29 goals and 19 assists this season (leading the league in both statistics), and is expected to become the first player in MLS history to win consecutive MVP awards.

Sun Heung-min is the only new player this summer to break into the top ten in the league in terms of salary.

Top 10 guaranteed salary for MLS players in the 2025 season

Ranking of club salary expenditures

It should be noted that although the ranking of the team's total annual salary can reflect the expenditure, it is not all. The figures do not include transfer fees or other expenses such as investment in facilities.

The "designated player" salary provides MLS teams with the greatest room for maneuver, which also widens the gap between the top five spending teams and other teams. Miami has three of the top five highest-paid players in the league, and Atlanta has three of the top 16.

In addition to considerable salary expenditures, Atlanta also invested US$45-50 million in transfer fees last summer and this winter, setting a historical record for the league's two transfer windows, but the team ultimately ranked second to last in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, four of the top five teams in payroll expenses made the playoffs.

Ranking of total player salary expenditures of MLS teams in the 2025 season

In contrast, Philadelphia Union won the Supporters' Shield with the third-lowest salary bill in the league. This is the second time they have won the championship under strict salary control (the first time it was achieved in 2020).

Due to the buyout of the contracts of Insigne and Bernardeschi, Toronto FC became the team with the most changes in the spring and summer. Although the club still needs to pay the two players, since they have left the team, the relevant amounts are no longer included in the salary data.

Montreal CF was originally the team with the lowest salary in the spring. Even after signing designated player Ivan Jaime in the summer, it still remained at the bottom. Minnesota United's actual expenditure is slightly lower than the indicated value because they are not responsible for Greso's entire salary, and the exact difference is unknown.

Three of the five teams with the lowest salary currently are in the playoffs..

Next year, Miami will release a huge salary space.

With Busquets ($8.78 million) and Alba ($6 million) about to retire, Miami will not only free up a huge salary space, but more importantly, it will free up two "designated player" spots.

One of the "designated player" spots will be given to DePaul, and the third open spot means Miami can bring in another strong player without salary cap restrictions.

Miami has both flexibility and choices in lineup construction: In addition to DePaul, four players (including Allende) are on loan. Whether there is room under the salary cap to complete a permanent transfer deserves attention.

Also worth noting: The 38-year-old Suarez's contract has expired, but he has not yet announced his plan for next year-whether he will choose to retire or continue playing.

Value Eleven Lineup

In order to ensure the diversity of the lineup, we have limited the number of players we cultivate and draft (for example, Seattle Academy midfielder Vargas and New England Academy left back Miller were not selected). In fact, these two types of players alone are enough to form a team, but discovering cost-effective players from other clubs deserves more attention. Of course, there are enough players from Philadelphia, San Diego, Vancouver and Minnesota alone to form another roster.

Although some high-paid players in the league are indeed worth their money, this does not meet the original intention of this inventory, so we limit the selection to players with a guaranteed salary of less than $400,000:

•Goalkeeper: Dos Santos, San Diego FC ($341,000)

• Right back: Freeman, Orlando City ($108,000)

• Central defender: Makana, Philadelphia Union ($289,000)

• Central defender: Dua, San Diego FC ($85,000)

• Left back: Markaniqi, Ming Minnesota United ($104,000)

• Right midfielder: Rothrock, Seattle Sounders ($104,000)

• Central midfielder: Berhalter, Vancouver Whitecaps ($385,000)

• Central midfielder: Lukic, Philadelphia Union ( $330,000)

• Left midfielder: Ahmed, Vancouver Whitecaps ($159,000)

• Forward: Judd, San Jose Earthquakes ($234,000)

• Forward: Wolff, Austin FC ($221,000)