What is Lionel Messi's salary at Inter Miami? What we know about his wages ahead of MLS move

Lionel Messi has turned down a monstrous contract offer from Saudi Arabia to join Major League Soccer side Inter Miami instead.

Messi, 35, was reportedly offered a three-year deal by Saudi club Al Hilal worth a gargantuan €1.3bn (£1.1bn) - roughly €500m (£430m) per year.

But the seven-time Ballon d'Or has turned that down to join Miami, who are partly owned by David Beckham.

While the MLS side have a fraction of the spending power of the top Saudi clubs, they have managed to convince Messi to move to the United States through a combination of added incentives on top of his salary.

So, how much will Messi earn at Inter Miami? Here's everything we know so far.

What is Messi's salary at Inter Miami?

Few details have been released about Messi's salary but it may well be a drop from his reported £52m-a-season deal at PSG and nowhere near what he has been offered in Saudi Arabia.

As reported by The Athletic, each team in the MLS in 2023 is given a $5.2m (£4.1m) salary budget - but also provides avenues for teams to 'buy down' players' budget charge – effectively allowing their wage bill to be much higher.

MLS rules also provide clubs with three designated player (DP) slots in which the club can pay a player what they want, but will hit the cap at the maximum senior budget charge ($612,500).

These DP slots allow MLS teams to compete for high-profile international stars, while the general salary cap was introduced to maintain the financial balance among teams.

The exact terms of Messi's new salary and the length of his contract are yet to be confirmed and there are conflicting reports over how much he is set to make.

A report from Spanish publication Sport claims Messi is due to sign a four-year contract, while another Spanish outlet AS claim his salary could be worth as much as $54m (£43.2m) per season.

GOAL, meanwhile, claim the Argentina international could be paid between $125m-$150m (£100m-£120m) per season in the USA.

Regardless of the exact figure, Messi is certain to become by far the highest-paid player in MLS, with Chicago Fire's Xherdan Shaqiri currently the top earner on $8,153,000 (£6,520,117) per year, according to Spotrac.

What else have Inter Miami offered Messi?

While Inter Miami were unable to match the massive contract offer from Saudi Arabia, they put together a financial package attractive enough to convince the Argentine to move to the United States.

"The league has gotten very creative with all of this," one MLS stakeholder told The Athletic.

"Everything is on the table."

It is claimed that Messi's Inter Miami deal involves contributions from two of MLS's biggest commercial partners: Apple TV, their current broadcast rights holder, and Adidas, the league's apparel sponsor.

MLS and Apple have discussed offering Messi a share of the revenue generated by new subscribers attracted to the platform's streaming package, MLS Season Pass.

Apple is also working on a four-part docuseries about Messi competing at four World Cups, culminating in Argentina's triumph at Qatar 2022.

Adidas is also said to be offering Messi a profit-sharing agreement, which would involve the player receiving a cut of any increase in Adidas' profits resulting from his involvement in MLS.

There are also rumours that Messi will have the same option in his contract that Beckham was granted following his move to LA Galaxy in 2007, allowing him to purchase a stake in an MLS club at a pre-set price.

What is Messi's net worth?

All of the above point to Messi massively increasing his net worth in the coming years.

According to Insider, Messi's current net worth is somewhere around the $600m (£480m) – making him one of the richest sports stars on the planet.

Forbes estimate that he has already made $600m (£103m) in 2023 through a combination of his wages at PSG, sponsorship deals and business interests.

That puts him second on the list for 2023 behind his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who Forbes estimate has made $136m (£108m) this year – partly as a result of his move to Saudi Arabia.