10 Highest Earning Players in MLS

10 Highest Earning Players in MLS

Football Blog

The 10 Best Paid Players in MLS

Over the past few seasons the MLS has slowly been establishing itself as one of the best in the world.

This is in part due to the fact that some huge names have moved to North America recently including Luis Suarez, Thomas Muller and of course Lionel Messi.

Critics have argued that the league is a retirement home for some of the former best players in the world, much like the Saudi League, however whether this is really the case remains contested as it is climbing the rankings in terms of league viewership and competitiveness.

Either way the main thing that we're here for is to see the top 10 wages in the MLS and who's earning them, maybe with this you can come to your own conclusions over the MLS being a retirement league for good final pay checks.

10) Jonathan Bamba - £71,099 Gross P/W

Most will probably know Jonathan Bamba for his time at Lille including when he was instrumental in the side causing an upset in Ligue 1 and winning the title in the 20/21 season.

He had plenty of links across Europe following this season and eventually made his way to spain to play for Celta Vigo, nowadays he plays for Chicago Fire and is one of the biggest names in the league.

9) Thomas Muller - £71,099 Gross P/W

Thomas Muller has to be one of, if not the biggest Bayern Munich legend of all time, growing up in Bavaria, Bayern was his boyhood club who he went on to win everything with and became one of the highest scorers in the sides history in the process.

He burst onto the scene with an incredible debut performance for the German national team in 2010, in which he won the Golden Boot.

At the end of last season he announced he would be leaving Bayern Munich for Canada, where he now plays for Vancouver Whitecaps.

8) Riqui Puig - £72,876 Gross P/W

Puig was one of the earlier players to make the switch to North America, moving at the beginning of the 2022 season, prior to this he was regarded as somewhat of a wonderkid who was faltering at Barcelona but since the move he has established himself as one of the premier players in the MLS.

The 2024 season summed him up as one of the league's best perfectly when he finished the year with a whopping 17 goals and 12 assists in 33 league games.

7) Sam Surridge - £75,080 Gross P/W

Another one of the recent movers to the MLS was Englishman Sam Surridge, who may not have been firing quite this frequently during his spells at Nottingham Forest (though he is hugely popular there) and Bournemouth but has found his groove at Nashville and is now competing for the Golden Boot with Lionel Messi frequently.

So far in the 2026 Season of MLS he is nearly at a goal per game average with 10 in 11 played, this follows on from last season in which he bagged an incredible 31 in 40, evidently he has found his shooting boots over in America. Would an England call-up be a ridiculous suggestion, beyond the World Cup?

6) Emil Forsberg - £76,858 Gross P/W

Most likely recognised as a hero at Leipzig, Swedish Veteran Emil Forsberg clearly loved playing for a Red Bull club as he moved from Germany to New York Red Bulls, he left Leipzig a hero helping take them from the 2.Bundesliga to Champions League football.

Since then he has become one of the best players in the MLS and still features for the Swedish national team on occasion.

5) Hirving Lozano - £85,318 Gross P/W

In many ways Lozano moving to the MLS was very close to being classed as a homecoming - growing up playing in the Mexican League his return to North America can be somewhat framed as a return closer to home.

He made a name for himself at PSV Eindhoven over in the Netherlands before becoming a crucial figure for Napoli, he will have huge support when he features for the Mexican national team this summer and is expected to be their talisman.

4) Miguel Almiron - £86,115 Gross P/W

Speaking of homecoming, Paraguay international Miguel Almiron did actually make a homecoming to Atlanta United for the 2025 season after a 7 year spell at Newcastle United.

During his time in the North-East of England he had a very mixed time to say the least, generally he was considered poor by the Geordie faithful but a purple patch in the 22/23 season helped push his time into a marginally more positive light.

3) Rodrigo De Paul - £107,629 Gross P/W

When Rodrigo De Paul called a time on his Atletico Madrid career it caught many by surprise that he moved to the MLS as it was a general consensus me had another season or two in the tank at the top of European Football.

Despite this his time at Inter Miami has so far been a huge success as he has been one of the finest players in the whole league and was crucial in the club winning their first ever MLS-Cup title.

2) Heung-Min Son - £147,441 Gross P/W

There is a huge argument to be made that Heung-Min Son may well be the greatest Asian player of all time and his arrival at LAFC was absolutely huge for the league's visibility.

Son showed the quality he posseses in his debut season in the MLS, averaging an 8.17 match rating with a whopping 12 goals and 3 assists in just 13 played, so far this season he has showed his creativity with a huge 14 assists in 19 games across all competitions.

1) Lionel Messi - £355,494 Gross P/W

There really isn't much to say about Lionel Messi, he is the undisputed Greatest Of All Time, won the most Balon D'ors in history and is an absolute delight to watch no matter where he plays.

His move to MLS was seismic and alone was one of the biggest factors in putting the league into more of a mainstream focus, just his presence brings the majority of new eyes on the league and will continue to do so as long as he is at Inter Miami.

And here's a fun fact - Lionel Messi earns more in a season than 28 other MLS club's ENTIRE ROSTERS. Suffice to say, he has earned it.

Mathew Musgrave
Mathew Musgrave Writer at FootballPark

My name is Mathew Musgrave and I'm one of the writers at Football Park. I'm an Arsenal fan and enjoy writing about any and all football. Most of my knowledge is around English Football but being a big fan of research, I will gladly write about anything.

View all articles by Mathew Musgrave →

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