Messi’s Inter Miami salary will be $50-60 million per year
Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas has said Lionel Messi will make “between $50-60 million per year” when his contract with the MLS club is finalized.
Messi announced his intention to join Inter Miami in a milestone deal last month, though the club has not officially confirmed the Argentine’s signing.
Only final details remain before Messi officially joins Inter Miami, with Mas saying two weeks ago that Messi would likely debut in a July 21 Leagues Cup game against Cruz Azul.
Messi’s contract would make him by far the highest-paid player in MLS, with Xherdan Shaqiri of the Chicago Fire currently topping the list with an annual guaranteed compensation of $8.2 million.
Messi will, of course, make even more than $50-60 million per year, as he will also be given a cut of profits from the league’s media rights deal with Apple and its apparel deal with Adidas.
“In terms of closing, the contract with Apple was very important,” Mas said in an interview with El Pais.
“(The negotiations lasted) three years,” Mas added. “One-and-a-half years negotiating intensely. Lots of conversations with Jorge (Messi, Lionel’s dad). I viewed it as done at the end of May. David (Beckham, Inter Miami co-owner) talked to Leo, only over footballing topics, because he was still playing at PSG. He didn’t want him to feel any pressure.”
Mas also addressed other players linked to Inter Miami — all of whom played alongside Messi at Barcelona for several years.
Sergio Busquets has also been confirmed to be joining the MLS club, though his signing has not been made official yet either.
“For us it was essential to surround Messi with players at his level,” Mas said. “We’ve been talking to Busquets for more or less a year. He’ll be very important in the locker room, even more so for the academy players.
“Two or three more players are coming. We have talked to Jordi Alba. (Luis Suárez) is under contract — he has a (release) clause, and I don’t know if he’d leave. We’ve also conversed with (Ángel) Di María, but it looks like he’s on the verge of signing elsewhere. All of the announcements will be made before July 15.”
