2025 MLS salaries: Record signing Son Heung-min enters the top two

Tom Weber

• Updated: 29 Oct 2025 14:54 CDT
• 4 min read

News

New LAFC superstar Son Heung-min is the second-highest-paid player in Major League Soccer after his record-breaking transfer in the summer.

The MLS Players Association has released an updated version of its biannual earnings report. Every season, the MLSPA discloses the base salary and guaranteed compensation figures (salary plus bonuses) of players in the league.

Unsurprisingly, Inter Miami icon Lionel Messi has been the best-paid player in MLS since he arrived in 2023, and by some distance, too. Before Son joined LAFC for a league-record $26.5 million, the Argentine was earning more than twice as much as the second-highest-paid player.

Son's mid-season arrival now sees him occupy second place, as per updated MLSPA figures, and the South Korean stands to earn a guaranteed yearly compensation of $11.15m. This is still some way short of Messi's $20.45m. The data does not yet take the 38-year-old's new three-year contract into account.

Messi is one of three Inter Miami players in the top 10 highest earners, along with Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. Both will retire after the playoffs, freeing up massive expenditures of $8.77m and $6m, respectively.

Lozano, Almiron in top five

Busquets in third place is followed by Atlanta United forward Miguel Almiron. The former Newcastle winger earns $7.87m per year, with San Diego star Hirving Lozano not far behind on $7.63m.

In addition to Almiron, Atlanta are also paying Aleksey Miranchuk ($4.89m) and Emmanuel Latte Lath ($4.03m) handsomely. Despite a massive wage bill, the Five Stripes finished second bottom in the Eastern Conference, which has cost Ronny Deila his job.

The Athletic has calculated that Supporters' Shield winners Philadelphia Union have the third-lowest salary expenditure in the league, continuing their trend of achieving success without spending lavishly.

Despite some big transfer movements in the previous window, Son is the only summer signing to make the top 20. Miami recruit Rodrigo de Paul controversially joined on loan with only a purchase option rather than an obligation, so that the Herons would not have to free up a Designated Player (DP) spot.

He will take Busquets' DP role in the winter when he will join permanently for $17m. Because of these shenanigans, he is currently listed as being on a $1.5m base salary, but his earnings for the year will rise to $3.62m when his option is triggered.

Similarly, Vancouver Whitecaps superstar Thomas Muller is below the DP threshold for 2025 with a paltry $1.44m guaranteed compensation. His earnings will also rise significantly when he becomes a DP in the off-season.

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