Major League Soccer’s players union revealed the salaries of all 29 teams in MLS for the 2024 season. Lionel Messi is the league’s highest earner at $20.4 million, while Inter Miami is the highest spending team in the league with a budget of $41 million.
St. Louis CITY SC is the team with the lowest budget in the league at roughly $12 million for their entire roster. Messi makes more in salary than 86% of the rosters in the league.
Now, reviewing some of the players listed in the MLSPU 2024 salaries, some eye-raising things have been noticed. Namely, there are “MLS Pool” players that are being paid by the league but have no clubs attached to them.
Review of Strange MLS Salaries
Jozy Altidore, who has not played professional soccer since 2022 and has not played in MLS since a poor stint with the New England Revolution, is still under contract with MLS. The former USMNT striker is still being paid $2,242,574 by the league, which owns all of the players’ contracts.
Michael Bradley, who retired last year to take up coaching, is also being paid $725,000 by MLS for 2024.
The remaining players who have contracts with MLS but no clubs are:
- Corentin Jean – $788,400
- Chris Mavinga – $702,500
- Adama Diomande – $660,000
- Dantouma Toure – $104,334
- Owen O’Malley – $76,401
Then there are clubs still paying compensation to players who are no longer in MLS, as is the case of Santiago Sosa of Atlanta United, who is on loan to Racing Club. Sosa is listed as being compensated $778,100 by MLS.
Then there is Joaquín Torres, now playing in Chile on loan from the Philadelphia Union, making $349,800.