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The Argentina captain signed a number of lucrative deals when he joined MLS side Inter Miami that will take his income beyond the $1.6 billion he was offered by Al Hilal
Lionel Messi rejected a reported $1.6 million from Saudi Arabia side Al Hilal and opted to join the MLS, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the David Beckham-owned Inter Miami instead.
Messi will earn $53.7 million per year in Miami, making him the ninth highest earning sports man in the US. With his contract set to last three-and-a-half years, it means he would have earned $187.9 million by the time his deal ends.
Well, this is still less than what his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo earns in one year at Saudi side Al-Nassr.
But where Ronaldo beats Messi on salary, the Argentina captain trumps him on other perks. With Apple having signed a $2.5 billion deal with the MLS, they were part of the facilitators for the Messi transfer to Inter Miami.
They are reported to have agreed a profit-sharing agreement with Messi. He will benefit from subscription sales for Inter Miami. Messi is a huge commercial draw and his move will undoubtedly pump numbers.
The other interested party is giant kit manufacturer Adidas, who also sponsors the player. They have offered a similar model, meaning Messi will take a percentage of profits from shirt sales.
Given Messi sold over a million shirts last season, with both revenue shares, his income is predicted to hit up to $150 million per year which translates to $525 million over his three-and-a-half-year contract.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Al-Nassr worth $215 per year with commercials, taking his earnings to $537 million by the time his contract ends.
However, it does not end there. To understand the real value of this deal you, have to go back to 2007 when David Beckham, the man behind Lionel Messi’s transfer to Miami, signed a $6.5 million per year deal with Los Angeles Galaxy. This was a 70 percent pay cut, even worse than Messi’s deal.
However, the revenue shares he signed took his salary to $55 million per year and over the five years he was in Los Angeles, he earned $255 million.
Beckham also shrewdly negotiated a deal to buy an MLS outfit for $25million (Inter Miami), and the value of the club now is $585 million following Messi’s arrival.
Messi is widely thought to have been offered a similar arrangement. By the end of the contract, Messi is very likely to be worth over $2 billion.
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