The MLS Players Union has today made available the salaries for each player in the league for everyone to peruse, and Kaka once again sits atop the tree in terms of annual salary.
Robbie Keane's gradual slide down the list over the years continues, as he finds himself in 11th place behind some players who are being painfully overpaid.
Last week we outlined why Frank Lampard has been labelled the 'worst signing in MLS history', and is the league's third highest earner taking home a cool $6m a year, and these types of salaries being issued to older players who have yet to prove their ability to perform in the league are being widely criticised by the players.
In fact, ESPN conducted a pre-season poll of current MLS players in which a staggering 84% of them believe they are underpaid, and while most would scoff at that idea, some of these guys are earning less than $100,000 a year while the likes of Lampard, who has not kicked a ball this season, is collecting a fee that would dwarf that.
Here is the top 10 in terms of their earnings this year:
1. Kaka - Orlando City - $7.17m
2. Sebastian Giovinco - Toronto FC - $7.12m
3. Michael Bradley - Toronto FC - $6.5M
4. Steven Gerrard - LA Galaxy - $6.13m
5. Frank Lampard - New York City FC - $6m
6. Andrea Pirlo - New York City FC - $5.92m
7. David Villa - New York City FC - $5.61m
8. Jozy Altidore - Toronto FC - $4.83m
9. Clint Dempsey - Seattle Sounders - 4.61m
10. Giovanni Dos Santos - LA Galaxy - 4.25m
And a few notable names sitting outside the top 10 include:
11. Robbie Keane - LA Galaxy - $3.5m
13. Didier Drogba - Montreal Impact - $2.17m
19. Liam Ridgewell - Portland Timbers - $1.25m
22. Kevin Doyle - Colorado Rapids - $1.12m
Jozy Altidore is doing well for himself, isn't he?
Some of those figures do seem very much out of whack, but these are the perks of being a designated player and committing to a total upheaval of your life to come across to the US.
[via MLSplayers.org]
