Top 10 MLS Highest Paid Players 2023: Only a small number of football players in the United States’ Major League Soccer are able to earn substantial paydays and significantly more than their contemporaries as a result of the convoluted salary system.
However, to everyone’s surprise, Gareth Bale is not one of MLS Highest Paid Players 2023. After completing his contract with Real Madrid, the Welsh superstar only just agreed to join Los Angeles FC on a free transfer for an initial contract of one year.
His weekly net income at the Santiago Bernabeu was £350,000, but he has agreed to take a significant pay cut so that he can play more games in the lead up to the World Cup. His new annual salary will be equivalent to $1.61 million (£1.3 million), which is a significant decrease from what he was making at the Santiago Bernabeu.
This is due to the fact that Bale has not been identified as one of LAFC’s three designated players, which allows the other two players to be paid at significantly higher rates.
Bale’s contract does, however, have an option for a further 18-month extension, which would see him move into the slot of one of MLS Highest Paid Players 2022 if the extension is exercised.
However, in order to enter the Top 10 MLS Highest Paid Players 2023 list, he will have to wait at least a year, as we reveal the top 10 players in that category’s earnings.
Top 10 MLS Highest Paid Players 2023
10. Lucas Zelarayan Salary— £3.12m-a-year
Lucas Zelarayan has committed his future to the Columbus Crew by signing a new contract that will keep him under their service until 2024.
A player who made his reputation playing for the Mexican team Pumas UNAM, Zelarayan won a transfer to join Columbus Crew in 2020 and the Armenian has been a hit since his arrival. Zelarayan is a player who made his career playing for the Mexican team Pumas UNAM.
The Argentine-born central midfielder scored a goal in his first game, which was against New York City, and he went on to score seven more goals in his first season. The forward, who was then 30 years old, went on to become Crew’s most valuable player in the 2021 campaign, during which he scored 12 goals in 32 matches.
He renewed his contract through 2024, which included revised conditions that increased his income to £3.1 million per year and gave him the opportunity to extend the contract for one more year.
9. Luiz Araujo Salary— £3.31m
When Luiz Araujo moved to Atlanta from Lille in 2021, he received a significant pay raise which made him one of the Top 10 MLS Highest Paid Players 2023.
The Brazilian, who was acquired from Lille during the summer, could hardly be faulted for being attracted by an offer from Atlanta that was worth twice as much as his previous salary.
Before making his high-profile transfer to the United States, he played for Lille in France, where he scored 10 goals in the league over the course of 108 matches. His stint in France was not especially remarkable.
But despite the fact that he has won favor with the team that won the MLS Cup in 2018 thanks to his devoted displays and the fact that he has scored four goals in 13 games this season, the 26-year-old does not appear to be ready to give up his luxurious lifestyle on his long-term deal just yet.
8. Carlos Vela Salary — £3.38m
Vela, a striker who had played for Arsenal and later moved on to Real Sociedad, was once at the top of the pile after making the move. However, the Mexican only just agreed to a new deal with LAFC that involves a big wage drop.
At the height of his career, the 33-year-old was earning in a total of almost $6 million in earnings, but he is now projected to make barely two-thirds of that amount for the 2023 season.
After scoring an outstanding total of 73 goals in 120 appearances, including 38 in the 2019 campaign, few could argue that Vela does not deserve his still substantial weekly compensation, which makes him LAFC’s costliest star. After all, he has returned an impressive total of 73 goals in total.
7. Josef Martinez Salary– £3.5m
Josef Martinez’s contract with Atlanta United, which pays him £3.5 million per season, has one year remaining. Martinez, who had previously played for Torino, was said to be interested in making a comeback to Europe after he scored 88 goals in his first three seasons with Atlanta United.
On the other hand, he had a catastrophic knee injury early in his career, which destroyed any possibility of his signing with a heavyweight team in Europe. However, the Venezuelan is currently in the position that he desires to be in, and who could blame him given that he is earning in the most salary while playing for the Georgian outfit?
However, following two seasons in which he has been unable to reach the back of the net, the former Caracas trainee is weighing his options. If he decides to leave Atlanta, the Falcons will be able to bring in a new DP to replace his high salaries.
Top 10 MLS Highest Paid Players 2023
6. Jozy Altidore Salary— £3.62m
In 2023, Jozy Altidore made the move from Toronto to New England, where he now plays for the Patriots.
Altidore, a former United States international who is widely regarded as one of the most recognizable figures in American soccer, saw a six-year stint with Toronto come to an end at the conclusion of the 2021 season when the club bought out the remainder of his contract.
When Toronto spent about £6.5 million to move him back to North America in 2015 from Sunderland and sign him to a long-term agreement, he had already become the most expensive signing in the history of professional sports. However, after 79 goals in 173 games played, the club decided to buy him out of the rest of his contract.
Altidore, who is now 32 years old and had played for Sunderland, signed with the Eastern Conference champions New England Revolution in February 2022. However, in his first 17 games with the Revolution, he has only scored once.
5. Alejandro Pozuelo Salary— £3.95m
Alejandro Pozuelo was formerly a member of Swansea’s club and is currently one of the most paid players for Inter Miami and also one of MLS Highest Paid Players 2023 .
Pozuelo has done well to carve out a career for himself over the pond following a good run in Belgium with Genk. Prior to that, Pozuelo had some time at Swansea, although it was not for very long.
After signing with Toronto in 2019, he immediately established himself as one of the most productive players in the league by scoring 12 goals in his first season. Despite this, the goals have been somewhat scarcer over the course of the last two seasons, and once Toronto learned that Insigne was available, they made the decision to replace him with him.
In the beginning of this month, Pozuelo made the decision to move to Inter Miami in order to fulfill one of their designated player slots. Inter Miami, which is based in Florida, will be hoping to get top value for their money as a result of signing one of the most creative midfielders in the league.
4. Gonzalo Higuain Salary— £4.9m
After spending time on loan with Chelsea, Gonzalo Higuain is currently playing for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Before a disastrous loan stint with Chelsea, Higuain established himself as one of the most feared marksmen in front of goal in Europe while playing for Partenopei and later Juventus. In spite of this, the Argentine was nevertheless able to strike a lucrative business agreement soon after arriving in the United States to join his brother, Federico.
Higuain’s move to Phil Neville’s Inter Miami in 2020 did not have the anticipated impact, as the 34-year-old forward has played just a bit-part role since his high-profile transition, scoring only three goals so far this season. Since making the switch, Higuain has received a lot of attention.
Top 10 MLS Highest Paid Players 2023
3. Javier Hernandez Salary– £5.06m
After spending five years in England, supporters of Manchester United won’t need a reminder of why Hernandez was one of the most feared attackers in the Premier League. Hernandez was one of the most feared strikers around. And the fact that he had a reputation for being a fox in the henhouse followed him throughout his entire career before he moved to the United States.
The Mexican, who is better known by his nickname “Chicharito,” which in Spanish translates to “Little Pea,” also played for West Ham before moving on to Sevilla and then LA Galaxy in 2019. In 2019 he signed a contract with the latter club.
Hernandez, who is now 34 years old, has earned his place as one of the MLS Highest Paid Players 2023 by scoring a solid 26 goals in 51 Major League Soccer matches.
2. Xherdan Shaqiri Salary— £6.9m
Xherdan Shaqiri, a former superstar for Liverpool, is currently one of the MLS Highest Paid Players 2023.
The transfer of Shaqiri to Chicago Fire from Lyon in January of this year for a transfer price of £6 million was a masterstroke on the part of the MLS club known as the Chicago Fire.
The contract was more expensive than was probably initially believed, with the player, who is now 31 years old, receiving a basic salary of around $7.3 million (or £6.4 million) every year. Additional incentives determined by his results will bring his total compensation to nearly $8 million (£6.9 million).
The fact that the former Liverpool player has only scored three goals and provided two assists in his first 16 games with the Illinois team demonstrates that there is more work to be done before the supporters accept him as one of their own.
1. Lorenzo Insigne Salary— £10.5m
Lorenzo Insigne is an Italian professional footballer who currently plays as a forward for the Major League Soccer club Toronto FC as well as the Italy national football team. Insigne is originally from the city of Genoa.
2009 marked the beginning of Insigne’s professional career with Napoli, and he made his debut in Serie A the same year. However, Insigne was subsequently loaned out to Cavese, Foggia, and Pescara for three consecutive seasons until being recalled to Napoli in 2012. Although he is versatile enough to play on either flank or in the middle, Insigne is most frequently utilized on the left side of the field. His inventiveness, small height, quickness, and technical skill, as well as his precision from free-kicks, are particularly well-known attributes of his, but he is also noted for his speed.
On the 8th of January 2022, Insigne signed a pre-contract to join Toronto FC as a free transfer player in the Major League Soccer competition in Canada. The beginning of the contract’s four-year term was on July 1st of this year.
Lorenzo Insigne is the MLS Highest Paid Player 2023 with a salary of £10.5m annually.
Top 10 MLS Highest Paid Players 2023 – MLSbase.com
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