Brazilian veteran Kaka is the highest paid player in Major League Soccer, with a 2016 guaranteed salary of $7.167 million. The pay disparity in Major League Soccer was laid bare on Thursday as MLS released its biannual salary figures – which showed how the league’s top 20 players receive nearly 50% of all guaranteed salary money
Orlando City’s Kaka tops the list for the second successive year. Toronto’s Italian striker Sebastian Giovinco is the second highest paid player on $7.115 million.
American national team captain Michael Bradley is the highest paid local player at third on the list with a $6.5 million salary from Toronto, followed by former England midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
Former Chelsea player Lampard is paid $6.0 million by New York City FC though he has not played this season due to a calf injury. Also in the top 10 is Toronto’s American striker Jozy Altidore, the former Sunderland player who has not scored a goal this season.
Major League Soccer has a salary cap of $3.66 million for each of the 20 teams in the league but are allowed three “designated players” who do not count towards the cap and can be paid whatever the club can afford. David Beckham was the first player signed under the DP rule, but critics have it merely leads to increased inequality.
Salaries in the league can be wildly lopsided, with many players earning the minimum of $62,500. The maximum salary for any one player is $457,500, according to the MLS website.
Top 10 Salary Earners.
Kaka (Orlando City) – $7.167 million
Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC) – $7.115 million
Michael Bradley (Toronto FC) – $6.5 million
Steven Gerrard (Los Angles Galaxy) – $6.132 million
Frank Lampard (New York City FC) – $6.0 million
David Villa (New York City FC) – $5.610 million
Andrea Pirlo (New York City FC) – $5.915 million
Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC) – $4.825 million
Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders) – $4.605 million
Giovani Dos Santos (Los Angeles Galaxy) -$4.25 million
The top 20 highest-paid players in the league account for about $73m, or 48% of the league’s total compensation of $151m. The top 10 players draw in more than 38% of MLS’s total compensation. The data does little to dispel the notion of MLS as a league for haves and have-nots.
A successful career in Europe is no guarantee of a large salary, though. Shaun Wright-Phillips, who won the Premier League with Chelsea, will earn $107,500 this year; he earned $83,000 a week in his last contract in England, with QPR.
The least paid player in the league according to the figures is Montreal’s Belizean forward Michael Salazar. The 23-year-old earns $51,492 a year — less than three days wages for best-paid player Kaka.
