Southern California is where the money is in Major League Soccer, with the region’s two teams boasting the two highest-paid players in the league, according to salary information released Thursday by the league’s players’ association.
LAFC’s Carlos Vela has the highest guaranteed salary in MLS at $6.3 million and the Galaxy’s Javier “Chicharito” Hernández has the highest base pay at $6 million. Vela’s base salary is $4.5 million.
Inter Miami’s Gonzalo Higuaín is the next-best-paid player, with a base salary of $5.1 million and guaranteed compensation of $5.794 million.
Toronto’s Jozy Altidore is the only American in the top 28 of the salary list; he is guaranteed $3.6 million. Seventy-two players will make at least $1 million in guaranteed pay in 2021, up from 58 in 2019, the last year for which salary data is available.
Guaranteed compensation includes a player’s base salary and bonuses annualized over the term of the player’s contract, including option years. So if a player has a multi-year contract with a signing bonus, the value of that bonus is divided by the length of the contract and that value is included in the guaranteed compensation number each year.
The average base salary for senior roster non-designated players is $398,725, more than double what it was five years ago.
The Galaxy also have the third-highest team payroll at $16.8 million, trailing only Inter Miami ($17.8 million) and Toronto ($17 million). LAFC ranks sixth with a base payroll of $14.9 million.
After Hernández, the Galaxy have two other millionaires in designated players Jonathan dos Santos ($2 million) and the newly signed Kévin Cabral ($1.44 million) who could make his MLS debut Saturday against Austin FC. The team has three other players earning more than $900,000 in guaranteed compensation – midfielders Samuel Grandsir and Sebastian Lletget and defender Giancarlo González.
LAFC is paying Brian Rodríguez, currently on loan to Almeria of the Spanish second division, $1.04 million in guaranteed money. Diego Rossi, the reigning MLS scoring champion, will make $1.052 million. With Vela injured, LAFC’s starting lineup averages $386,545 in base pay, slightly lower than the league average.
Galaxy salaries
Players listed with position, base salary and guaranteed compensation:
| Nick | DePuy | D | $81,375.00 | $81,375.00 | |
| Carlos Miguel | Harvey | D-M | $81,375.00 | $81,375.00 | |
| Jonathan | Klinsmann | GK | $81,375.00 | $81,375.00 | |
| Eric | Lopez | GK | $81,375.00 | $81,375.00 | |
| Kai | Koreniuk | M-F | $85,444.00 | $85,444.00 | |
| Justin | Vom Steeg | GK | $85,444.00 | $85,444.00 | |
| Adam | Saldana | M | $81,375.00 | $87,309.00 | |
| Marcus | Ferkranus | D | $90,000.00 | $103,625.00 | |
| Jalen | Neal | D | $90,000.00 | $103,625.00 | |
| Efrain | Alvarez | M | $110,004.00 | $114,738.00 | |
| Cameron | Dunbar | F | $100,000.00 | $116,750.00 | |
| Ethan | Zubak | F | $130,000.00 | $133,125.00 | |
| Danilo | Acosta | D | $135,000.00 | $135,000.00 | |
| Julian | Araujo | D | $140,000.00 | $146,250.00 | |
| Jonathan | Perez | M | $125,000.00 | $146,750.00 | |
| Oniel | Fisher | D | $140,000.00 | $147,625.00 | |
| Sacha | Kljestan | M | $247,350.00 | $247,350.00 | |
| Daniel | Steres | D | $375,000.00 | $393,750.00 | |
| Victor | Vázquez | M | $400,000.00 | $439,167.00 | |
| Jorge | Villafaña | D | $450,000.00 | $486,667.00 | |
| Jonathan | Bond | GK | $450,000.00 | $501,875.00 | |
| Derrick | Williams | D | $750,000.00 | $821,458.00 | |
| Giancarlo | González | D | $850,000.00 | $919,583.00 | |
| Sebastian | Lletget | M | $800,000.00 | $923,750.00 | |
| Samuel | Grandsir | M-F | $850,000.00 | $938,427.00 | |
| Kévin | Cabral | F | $1,440,000.00 | $1,440,000.00 | |
| Jonathan | dos Santos | M | $2,000,000.00 | $2,000,000.00 | |
| Javier | Hernández | F | $6,000,000.00 | $6,000,000.00 |
LAFC salaries
Players listed with position, base salary and guaranteed compensation:
| Cal | Jennings | F | $81,375.00 | $81,375.00 | |
| Antonio | Leone | D-M | $81,375.00 | $83,375.00 | |
| Danny | Musovski | F | $85,444.00 | $85,444.00 | |
| Tomas | Romero | GK | $81,375.00 | $86,375.00 | |
| Bryce | Duke | M | $90,000.00 | $90,000.00 | |
| Christian | Torres | F | $79,738.00 | $90,968.00 | |
| Mohamed | Traore | D | $91,444.00 | $91,444.00 | |
| Erik | Duenas | D | $90,444.00 | $92,444.00 | |
| Raheem | Edwards | D-M | $96,375.00 | $96,375.00 | |
| Jordan | Harvey | D | $110,000.00 | $110,000.00 | |
| Kwadwo | Opoku | F | $81,375.00 | $122,430.00 | |
| Pablo | Sisniega | GK | $150,000.00 | $150,000.00 | |
| Marco | Farfan | D | $190,000.00 | $190,000.00 | |
| Tristan | Blackmon | D | $193,000.00 | $203,000.00 | |
| Eddie | Segura | D | $200,000.00 | $224,000.00 | |
| Mark-Anthony | Kaye | M | $235,625.00 | $247,188.00 | |
| Latif | Blessing | M | $360,000.00 | $376,667.00 | |
| Corey | Baird | F | $365,000.00 | $396,031.00 | |
| Jose | Cifuentes | M | $367,875.00 | $411,750.00 | |
| Diego | Palacios | D | $432,000.00 | $456,000.00 | |
| Jesus | Murillo | D | $400,000.00 | $459,500.00 | |
| Kim | Moon-Hwan | D-M | $500,000.00 | $524,000.00 | |
| Francisco | Ginella | M | $425,000.00 | $547,250.00 | |
| Eduard | Atuesta | M | $550,000.00 | $568,000.00 | |
| Kenneth | Vermeer | GK | $750,000.00 | $756,000.00 | |
| Brian | Rodríguez | F | $700,000.00 | $1,039,800.00 | |
| Diego | Rossi | F | $1,000,000.00 | $1,052,000.00 | |
| Carlos | Vela | F | $4,500,000.00 | $6,300,000.00 |
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
