A FORMER Liverpool star is the top earner in the MLS.
The league’s salaries were released this week – and there are plenty of familiar names in the top ten.
The likes of Gareth Bale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have made high-profile switches to America in recent years.
But now the No1 star in the country in terms of pay is Xherdan Shaqiri, as confirmed by the MLS.
The former Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Stoke winger, 31, earns a guaranteed £6.53million for Chicago Fire in 2023 – almost as much as the rest of the squad combined.
That makes him the only player on more money than Lorenzo Insigne.
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The Euro 2020 winner left Napoli for Toronto in 2022 and put pen to paper on a staggering base salary £6m-a-year contract.
Ex-Manchester United forward Javier Hernandez is third, with the 34-year-old pocketing a tasty £5.97m at LA Galaxy.
Insigne was joined by fellow European champion Federico Bernardeschi at Toronto last summer and will earn £5m per year – despite his new side’s nightmare start to the season.
Austin FC’s Argentine attacker Sebastian Druissi completes the top five with his £4.8m annual deal.
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Hector Herrera is now at Houston Dynamo, with the 104-cap Mexico ace starring for Porto and Atletico Madrid in Europe until the end of last season.
He earns £3.35m per year, just clear of the £3.3m for LA Galaxy’s ex-Juventus ace Douglas Costa and Luiz Araujo who gets £3.2m at Atlanta United.
Inter Miami striker Josef Martinez completes the list in tenth, with £3.1m per year as the top-paid player on David Beckham’s squad list.
But just above him – earning a base £3.15m in 2023 – is Christian Benteke.
The former Liverpool, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace man spent ten years in the Premier League, scoring 86 goals.
But he left Selhurst Park to join DC United in 2022, now starring under Wayne Rooney in Washington.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
