5 Highest Paid MLS Players
There are a lot of talented players in Major League Football. These are players that have really made a splash in the world of soccer, players that are well deserving of lucrative titles and high salaries.
Before you head over to see Fanduel’s live soccer odds, we thought we would first discuss some of the highest paid players in the MLS. These are the most recent salaries released, and many of them are unsurprising if you are a big fan of MLS. With that in mind, here are the 5 highest paid MLS players out there to date.
- Josef Martinez
Josef Martinez of Atlanta United is one of the only players in the team to be earning one of the highest salaries in the MLS. He’s certainly worthy of his $3.89 million salary. In just his debut season in 2017, he scored a total of 19 goals through his 20 appearances in the regular season. In the following year he scored 31 goals through 34 matches and eventually led his team to the MLS Cup for the first time in history.
He had another fantastic season in 2019, but was unable to play throughout 2020 thanks to an injury that left him unable to pay. He’s certainly made up for that absence in the recent games though, once again showing that he is worth paying the mega bucks for.
- Gonzalo Higuain
Gonzalo Higuain of Inter Miami is earning a $5.79 million salary. Even his base is $5.1 million! He’s the third highest paid player in the MLS at the moment, and $0.7 million of it comes from sponsorships on top of his base salary of $5.1 million dollars.
Higuain has had quite the impressive career, even if it did have a bit of a rocky start when he started in MLS. He wasn’t overly familiar with the US game at first, but in the years since then he has certainly managed to adjust and flourish. In fact, in his very first few matches of 2021 he scored four goals alone in just five separate games.
Through his career he has played for some major European teams including Real Madrid, AC Milan and Chelsea. He came to MLS with a wealth of experience under his belt, and today he is one of the greatest players in Inter Miami.
- Alejandro Pozuelo
Alejandro Pozuelo plays for Toronto FC, and it’s pretty safe to say that he’s one of the most valuable players in the entire league. We certainly can’t find many arguments to dispute his $4.69 million salary.
In just the previous year alone, Pozuelo managed to score 9 goals and a further 9 assists too. He was even given the title of Most Valuable Player for the 2020 season.
His base salary at the moment is $3.8 million, but he will certainly bring home at least another $1 million in compensation. We’re pretty excited to see what lies ahead of this talented player – if he keeps up with his performance to date, we are almost certainly going to see his salary increasing.
- Carlos Vela
Carlos Vela of LAFC earns a whopping $6.30 million – could you imagine that kind of salary? He’s undeniably the most well paid player in the whole of Major League Soccer as of 2021.
Of course, Vela’s base salary is not the highest in the league – that would go to others in the league. Carlos Vela does earn $4.5 million in base salary, but will get an exceptional amount of extra salary in compensation. This is what makes him the highest paid player overall.
Previously playing for Arsenal, Vela has managed to net more than 60 goals in a mere 100 games in Major League Soccer. He’s also been instrumental in 25 assists. His salary is certainly well deserved – we don’t think that anyone would try to dispute that.
5. Javier Hernandez
This LA Galaxy player will be getting $6 million in salary in the following year – certainly not a small number. He’s the second highest paid player in the league at the moment, and he has certainly shown his worth in the recent season.
Hernandez initially came from Manchester United and Real Madrid in the European Leagues, and throughout his earliest appearances in 2021 he managed to score seven goals. That was just in five games!
He’s a talented player, and certainly worth his salary.
Conclusion
Many of you will be unsurprised by the names on this list, and it’s pretty safe to say that there’s a reason that they have such a high salary! We’re looking forward to seeing what else these players can do going forward.
