Lionel Messi will soon sign for MLS' Inter Miami FC. An official announcement is expected later this week. But what do we know about the move? What does the contract look like? When will he first play?
remain iconic in the history of soccer, so much so that it was downright strange to see him wear the No. 30 in his two seasons with Paris Saint-Germain . Now, Messi is going back to a classic: he’ll almost certainly wear the No. 10 for Miami, which the club has purposely kept unfilled all season in hope/anticipation of his arrival.The Inter Miami No. 10 was previously worn by fellow Argentine Gonzalo Higuain in 2022, and Mexican Rodolfo Pizarro in 2021 and 2020.The Bahamas.
Unlike normal MLS contracts, it’s not a simple matter. For a legendary player and a potentially league-altering signing, MLS and Inter Miami got creative with compensation to ensure he wasn’t lured to Saudi Arabia. Messi’s deal is worth around $50-60 million annually, though that includes the value of his equity in Inter Miami, which will activate after his time with the club. Additionally, Messi will receive additional income through MLS partners. He’ll get some portion of new MLS Season Pass subscriptions on Apple TV, as well as agreements for compensation from Adidas and Fanatics.
The Adidas and Apple portions of the deal are functionally separate from the base salary that he’ll make just as a player in MLS. The MLS Players’ Association will release salary details for all players later this year,To help facilitate the transformative signing of David Beckham to the LA Galaxy in 2007, MLS introduced a new rule atop their salary cap structure: Each team could pay one player, the designated player , however much they wanted.
In today’s MLS, with Beckham a co-owner of Messi’s Miami, that rule has expanded to allow MLS clubs three DP slots. No matter what each DP is paid contractually, their salary counts against the budget at the senior maximum charge .