Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi (Lionel Messi) announced earlier that he will move to Inter Miami of the MLS, according to local media reports in Spain, Messi will have an annual salary of between $50 million and $60 million after joining Inter Miami.
According to sports pay tracker Spotrac, Messi became the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer (MLS), earning more than $40 million. According to the website, Sherdan Shaqiri's current annual salary in the MLS is $8.153 million, and he used to be the highest paid player in the MLS.
According to financial media Forbes, Messi's potential revenue off the court may exceed that of his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo has an annual salary of $75 million after moving to Saudi Arabian side Al-Nasser.
The 35-year-old's salary will be subsidized in other ways, with Messi guaranteed to be part of the club's shareholders after his retirement, and Messi also receiving a share of revenue from broadcast agreements between Major League Soccer and Apple-owned streaming platforms and Adidas' jersey sales.
The revenue stipulated by Apple's streaming is "very important" to the completion of the contractual agreement. Negotiations over Messi's move to MLS lasted three years and involved Messi's father and agent Jorge, as well as international Miami shareholders' Maas and David Beckham, with whom he used to "only talk about football things".
Investors are optimistic about the potential of Messi's joining the MLS to promote the MLS events, and Maas, one of the international Miami shareholders, said in an interview with the media that the addition of the World Cup winner Argentina captain Messi "will take the MLS to another level and become "one of the best two or three leagues in the world."
Regarding the other players who have joined Messi's Inter Miami, Maas confirmed that former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets has signed because "it is also important for us to have players like him by Messi's side".
Maas also detailed that two of Messi's other former Barcelona team-mates have been in talks with the international Miami team. Maas will join Messi's former team-mates Alba and Luis Suarez as well as Messi's compatriot Angel Di Maria as the team's transfer targets.
According to media reports, Messi will make his debut for Inter Miami against Mexican team Cruz Azul on July 21.
