Lowest Payroll In MLS Belongs To Real Salt Lake In 2022

SALT LAKE CITY – The Major League Soccer Players Association has released its annual salary list as Xherdan Shaqiri tops the league as the highest-paid player.

Shaqiri, who joined the Chicago Fire on February 9th, from French League 1 side Lyon, is being paid $8.153 million in guaranteed compensation. Next on the list is LA Galaxy striker Javier Hernandez who will make $6 million in 2022.

Highest-paid MLS players in 2022:

1. Shaqiri: $8.15 million
2. Chicharito: $6 million
3. Higuain: $5.79 million
4. Pozuelo: $4.69 million
5. Altidore: $4.26 million*

Altidore reportedly only making $1.6125m this year. Figure listed by MLSPA likely includes buyout from TFC.

— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) May 17, 2022

Real Salt Lake’s top-paid player is 2022 captain Damir Kreilach who will make $1.55 million in 2022. Bobby Wood is also making upwards of $1 million as he is expected to take home $1.018 in 2022.

No other Real Salt Lake player is in the $1 million range. Rather, the next highest-paid player is Justen Glad who will make $735,000 in 2022. Marcelo Silva, Sergio Córdova, and Jonathan Menéndez are all making $600,000 or more.

Real Salt Lake has also five players making the league minimum $65,000. All players on the league minimum recently signed their first professional contracts prior to the start of the 2022 season.

The 2022 Spring-Summer Salary Guide is now available.

The release contains Annual Base Salary and Annual Guaranteed Compensation data for the 841 players under contract.

All data is as of April 15, 2022.

➡️ https://t.co/BPU31rFWEQ pic.twitter.com/VTIZYFRJIq

— MLSPA (@MLSPA) May 17, 2022

Interestingly, Real Salt Lake has the lowest payroll in the league as they will spend a total of $10. 47 million in 2022. For reference, Atlanta United has the highest payroll in 2022 spending just shy of $21 million on player salaries.

Lionel Messi To Inter Miami?

It was reported earlier today that Lionel Messi will play in Major League Soccer starting in 2023. The Argentine great will sign a contract with Inter Miami when his Paris Saint-Germain contract expires, according to reports. As part of the deal, Messi will purchase a 35% stake in Inter Miami – worth an expected $200 million.

However, Messi’s camp has denied that Messi has made a decision on his future.

Messi's camp is denying reports that he will join MLS club Inter Miami in 2023, per @le_Parisien.

From his agent:

"Leo has not yet decided on his future. If Leo Messi has crossed paths with David Beckham in the last few hours, it is only as part of PSG’s stay in Doha." pic.twitter.com/ZuQ9TsGMTI

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) May 17, 2022

Next Match

Real Salt Lake will travel to Montreal this upcoming Sunday, May 22, with kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m.

The match will be available to stream for free via the KSL Sports and KSL 5 TV apps or on KSL Sports dot com.