Son Heung-min made a great decision.
Multiple media outlets, including the British The Athletic, released the second update of the player's annual salary data released twice this year by the Major League Soccer Association (MLSPA) on the 30th (Korea time). Through this, the status of wage spending in the 2025 season of 30 clubs was fully revealed. The update reflects the contract details, including recruiters in the summer transfer market, especially LAFC's Son Heung-min. However, since Lionel Messi's new contract was not included in the data, the information can be found at the release of the first salary data in 2026,' he reported, noting the MLS player-specific salary data.
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| Photo=The Athlete |
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Son Heung-min was receiving 11.15 million dollars (about 15.9 billion won) in annual salary at LAFC. In this regard, The Athletic paid a transfer fee of $26.5 million (about 37.7 billion won) to recruit Son Heung-min, which is the largest transfer fee in MLS history. On top of that, Son Heung-min became the second highest-paid player in MLS after Messi, with an annual salary of $11.15 million revealed this time. Son was the only recruit in the league's top 10 overall salary this summer, he noted. LAFC's total annual salary for the team is about $30.1 million (about 42.8 billion won), ranking second in the MLS club. In other words, Son Heung-min accounts for about a third of the team's annual salary.
The media also said, `Son Heung-min is making immediate results in both performance and marketing right after joining MLS. He scored nine goals and three assists during his 806 minutes in the regular league, and the free-kick goal scored against FC Dallas was selected as the "Gol of the Year of the Season" by fan voting, evaluating that LAFC's recruitment of Son Heung-min has been very successful so far.
In fact Son Heung-min could have been paid more, although he is also getting a great salary in MLS. It's because I just had to move to Saudi Arabia. In 2023, RT Hard, where Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante play, prepared an annual salary of 30 million euros (about 49.6 billion won) to recruit Son Heung-min. Because he planned to sign a four-year contract, his total annual salary reached 120 million euros (about 1984 billion won).
Considering the size of the contract prepared by Saudi Arabia, the contract at LAFC looks shabby. Son Heung-min signed a 2+1+1 year contract with LAFC. All contract options will be activated, and even if the four-year contract is fully filled, it will receive $44.6 million (about 63.5 billion won). It is about a third of the size of the Saudi contract. Son Heung-min gave up a lot of money when he moved to MLS.
Meanwhile, the highest salary in MLS was Messi. Messi received $20.45 million (about 29.1 billion won) in basic salary alone. He was the only player with a base salary of more than 10 million dollars (about 14.2 billion won) along with Son Heung-min. In this regard, The Athletic said, "'Messi is still the highest salary in the league, and his annual salary is more than $20 million, more than double that of all players except Son Heung-min. He scored 29 goals and 19 assists this season to rank No. 1 in scoring and helping in the league, and is likely to become the first MLS back-to-back MVP winner. Messi recently re-signed with Inter Miami, so his salary may have risen further.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
