MLS player salaries revealed: Lorenzo Insigne second on list, Michael Bradley takes hefty pay cut
Toronto FC leads the league… in payroll.
The MLSPA’s semi-annual Players Salary Guide was released on Tuesday. Toronto FC overtook Atlanta United as the team dishing out the most money on salaries with a payroll of $25.7 million USD, which is $2.2 million more than Greg Vanney’s LA Galaxy are spending on their squad.
At the other end of the scale, CF Montréal spent the least with a payroll of just $10.5 million, while CanMNT defender Kyle Hiebert’s St. Louis CITY have spent just $10.9 million in their expansion season.
According to the guide, there are now 112 players making over $1 million.
The league’s Top 10 earners based on guaranteed compensation may not surprise you, but some of the numbers will:
- Xherdan Shaqiri – Chicago Fire – $8,153,000
- Lorenzo Insigne – Toronto FC – $7,500,000
- Javier Hernandez – LA Galaxy – $7,443,750
- Federico Bernardeschi – Toronto FC – $6,295,381
- Sebastian Driussi – Austin FC – $6,022,500
- Hector Herrera – Houston Dynamo – $5,246,875
- Douglas Costa – LA Galaxy – $4,508,333
- Luiz Araujo – Atlanta United – $4,483,333
- Christian Benteke – DC United – $4,432,778
- Josef Martinez – Inter Miami – $4,391,667
While there are a number of high-profile names (mostly attacking players) on this list, it does not necessarily correlate to the highest-scoring players in the league. Far from it, in fact.
Here are the Top 5 scorers in MLS so far and their salaries:
- Denis Bouanga – LAFC – 9 Goals – $2,083,333
- Jordan Morris – Seattle Sounders – 8 Goals – $1,560,000.00
- Cristian Espinoza – San Jose Earthquakes – 8 Goals – $1,265,000.00
- Jesus Ferreira – FC Dallas – 6 Goals – $1,852,000.00
- Hany Mukhtar – Nashville SC – 6 Goals – $3,188,750.00
In particular, here is the list of Toronto FC salaries:
| Lorenzo | Insigne | $7,500,000.00 |
| Federico | Bernardeschi | $6,295,381.00 |
| Jonathan | Osorio | $1,400,000.00 |
| Richie | Laryea | $1,276,745.00 |
| Matt | Hedges | $908,859.00 |
| Raoul | Petretta | $856,625.00 |
| Ayo | Akinola | $771,875.00 |
| Sigurd | Rosted | $768,636.00 |
| Mark-Anthony | Kaye | $750,000.00 |
| Sean | Johnson | $683,013.00 |
| C.J. | Sapong | $616,667.00 |
| Michael | Bradley | $614,286.00 |
| Adama | Diomande | $585,000.00 |
| Brandon | Servania | $530,833.00 |
| Shane | O’Neill | $388,000.00 |
| Cristián | Gutiérrez | $311,667.00 |
| Víctor | Vázquez | $301,500.00 |
| Jahkeele | Marshall-Rutty | $159,313.00 |
| Jordan | Perruzza | $132,500.00 |
| Tomás | Romero | $125,000.00 |
| Greg | Ranjitsingh | $100,167.00 |
| Aimé | Mabika | $93,569.00 |
| Luke | Singh | $93,410.00 |
| Deandre | Kerr | $90,763.00 |
| Kosi | Thompson | $90,704.00 |
| Hugo | Mbongue | $78,787.00 |
| Kobe | Franklin | $78,162.00 |
| Alonso | Coello | $71,693.00 |
| Themi | Antonoglou | $68,775.00 |
| TOTAL | $25,741,930 |
Insigne’s front-loaded contract has him making roughly half of what he was earning in 2022.
Also, captain Michael Bradley has voluntarily taken a pay cut of almost $900,000 this year in order to help the Reds free up more salary space to strengthen the team with signings such as Sean Johnson and Matt Hedges. “That gave us the ability to go after not only one MLS free agent, but multiple (free agents),” TFC’s assistant general manager and Bradley’s former teammate Jason Hernandez told Neil Davidson. “That’s Michael for you.”
Meanwhile, some players saw an increase from 2022. Jonathan Osorio is making $400,000 more, and according to Bob Bradley is TFC’s third Designated Player, and Ayo Akinola saw an increase of around $100,000.
The team has invested $3,129,262 in the defence this year, and $2,275,592 in six forwards not named Lorenzo or Federico.
As mentioned, TFC leads the league in team payroll. Here are the top 10 salaries, with the Vancouver Whitecaps ranked 23rd and CF Montréal in 29th with the lowest team salary in the league:
| 1 | Toronto FC | $25,741,930 |
| 2 | LA Galaxy | $23,463,025 |
| 3 | Atlanta United | $21,257,396 |
| 4 | D.C. United | $19,939,731 |
| 5 | Austin FC | $19,922,021 |
| 6 | Chicago Fire | $19,515,479 |
| 7 | Seattle Sounders | $18,947,463 |
| 8 | New England Revolution | $18,909,273 |
| 9 | Inter Miami | $18,055,548 |
| 10 | LAFC | $17,483,012 |
| 23 | Vancouver Whitecaps | $12,746,625 |
| 29 | CF Montreal | $10,511,926 |
While this league adheres to a salary cap, there are a number of ways teams can increase players’ salaries: offering a Designated Player (DP) spot, Targeted Allocation Money (TAM), and General Allocation Money (GAM). Also, players like Ayo Akinola are part of the league’s Under-22 Initiative, which means only $200,000 counts against the salary cap.
They sell young players to collect allocation dollars to secure free agents and euro veterans. So the best of the what is coming up the pipeline is sacrificed for “wise selection to win today”. But they aren’t winning and the selection was either wrong or is not being managed properly.
In no way can this be viewed other than mismanagement. Michael Bradley has highlighted the issue well, he seems better able to gauge his value than his dad. He is giving up salary because he is overpaid, getting more than anyone else would pay – same with Insigne, Fede and Oso. I’m not saying they should not get that salary, I’m saying it shows MLSE is about money – spending and generating, not about elite sport.
People have given Bob space and time because of roster rules, budget, bad contracts, all distracting from how others can do more with less. When TFC plays the way they are now it shames the players because they don’t earn their pay. It doesn’t harm MLSE who see their asset grow each season.
I understand most fans see these same issues, I just post them with the pointless hope that someone like Manning opens another browser window next time they search Transfermarkt and see some reality closer to home.
Some of these contracts are just absurd.
Luke Singh still on the books, why? Was he given a 5 year contract or something? They’re paying him to play in the CPL.
Perruzza still here, why?
Kaye on almost 800k…
Petretta with almost a million, that makes him one of the highest paid fullbacks in the MLS. Has he actually had one good game yet?
Akinola on almost a million and it’s been increased??? Since the MLS resumed the regular season after the Covid shutdown this guy has 9 MLS goals spanning across +2,800 minutes.
Diomande & Sapong on an over combined million. You could of got a DP for that money.
Gutierrez on 300k?? The guy is on almost as much as Brandon Bye, DeJuan Jones & Gutman. This is a a Vancouver reject who wasn’t even healthy when he signed.
Forget about Insigne & Bernardeschi, they’re spending over $2 Million on 6 attacking players (Mbongue, Kerr, Perruzza, Diomande, Sapong, Akinola) and they’ve score for TFC a total 7 MLS goals in the last season and half. What the hell is going on here?
They have the highest paid MLS player in 4 positions, the wing DP’s and RB, LB. This just shows that money is not the reason for the teams struggles, it’s human choices.
Oooff ! Michael apparently took a pay cut so his dad could “strengthen the team” he really believes that his father knows what hes doing, poor guy. Now I read that Mike is on a contract to come back next year also, please no Mike. The Kevin Kilbane piece was pure gold , said everything about why Mike is past it! I felt the same way and posted this months before Kilbane did his piece, but I know that not only he is a liability on the field the real problem is he is a toxic player to have in the change room , this Captain son and Coach dad is something that unsettles the entire roster. It’s time to go Mike!! Also looking at all these salary figures shaking my head wondering where are all the contributors are that were giddy as school girls when we signed Bob, Nobody is standing by him now.
I don’t think Gutierrez is as bad as it looks. Pretty sure Vancouver is on the hook for most of his salary which is why TFC picked him up as coverage for Petretta.
Do they really need four left backs though? If they get knocked out of the leagues cup, which they probably will, that makes it a 37 game season. They can’t play 37 games with three left backs?
Remember we still don’t know if Laryea will be around after June 30th when his loan ends. Right now Nothingham is only 3 pts out of the relegation zone so if they don’t make it, they would probably want Laryea next season as their funding would take a big hit.
Even with 4 left backs, we are struggling to field enough players in the back due to injuries (and this when we were only playing one game a week). Outside Petretta nobody is good enough to be a stronger starter in MLS.
Franklin can be somebody who subs for Petretta, but he is not a starter if we want to be successful.