NEW YORK — Lionel Messi more than doubled his salary to $25 million in his new contract with Inter Miami and earns more more than twice as much as the second-highest-paid player in Major League Soccer, Los Angeles FC’s Son Heung-min.Messi’s new contract includes $25 million in base salary and $28,333,333 in guaranteed compensation, the MLS Players Association said Tuesday in its first release of 2026 salaries. He earns more than the payrolls of 28 of the other 29 MLS teams.Miami’s $54.6 million payroll is more than $20 million higher than LAFC, which is second at $32.7 million, and nearly five times as much as Philadelphia’s league-low $11.7 million. Miami’s payroll is up from $46.8 million at the start of last season.Toronto cut payroll to $21.4 million from $34.1 million at the start of 2025, and LAFC boosted its spending to $32.7 million from $22.4 million.Total league compensation was $631 million and the average guaranteed compensation of $688,816 on April 16 was up 8.9% from $632,809 as of last Oct. 1.Messi’s initial MLS contract, agreed to in July 2023, included a $12 million base salary and annualized guaranteed compensation of $20,446,667. Messi agreed last October to a three-year contract through the 2028 season, then led the team to its first MLS title.An attacker who turns 39 next month, Messi is captain of defending World Cup champion Argentina and is expect …
