In the recent years, Major League Soccer (MLS) has steadily been increasing its fan-base in the United States, as well as the rest of the world. American fans' enthusiasm for soccer was immensely triggered by the advent of David Beckham in 2007.
Seven years later, exhilaration for soccer, which had been undermined for a long while, became pride when the national team of the United States managed to reach the Round of 16 in Brazil's World Cup of 2014. These events along with the continuously improving athletic infrastructures and financial motives led many soccer stars to join their MLS counterparts and firmly establish soccer in the minds of Americans.
Below, you can see a list with the ten players with the biggest base salaries in MLS.
1. Currently, the player with the highest base salary in MLS is Kaka, who receives $6,660,000 in his contract with Orlando City. He plays as an attacking midfielder.
Starting from Sao Paulo, Kaka quickly demonstrated his goal-scoring skills with 23 goals in 59 appearances in three years. His performances quickly drew the attention of top European clubs and Milan was the one buying him for €8,500,000.
After six successful years in Milan, Kaka transferred to Real Madrid for a fee of € 68,500,000, which made him one of the most expensive transfers in soccer history. He played in Real for four seasons before returning to Milan for a year. Then, he activated his released clause and transferred to Orlando City, which loaned him to Sao Paulo until the team enters MLS. His contract with Orlando City made him the highest paid player in the history of MLS.
So far, the Brazilian star counts 90 caps and 23 goals with his national team, while he was the receiver of FIFA World Player of the year in 2007.
2. The second player with the highest base salary in MLS is the legendary Steven Gerrard with a contract of $6,200,004 with Los Angeles Galaxy. His position is midfielder.
Among his most notable appearances is the one against AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League, in which Liverpool F.C. came back after losing 3-0, brought the game to penalty shoot-outs and eventually won the trophy.
However, Gerrard has also been part of one of the club's most disappointing moments in 2014. Liverpool was close to winning the Premier League title after more than 20 years and had the momentum after an epic win against Manchester City. After the game, the former Liverpool leader was caught in camera celebrating and shouting "this does not fucking slip", obviously referring to the title. A couple of weeks later, Liverpool played Chelsea F.C. in Anfield and in an unfortunate turn of events the midfielder slipped during the game, allowing Chelsea to open the score.
After a successful career at Liverpool, the midfielder from Whiston, Merseyside, England, decided to change continents and LA Galaxy announced his transfer on January 2015 for the alleged amount of $9,000,000. So far, Gerrard has played 11 games with two goals and three assists according to espnfc.us.
Gerrard has 114 caps with the national team of England and he has scored 21 goals.
3. In the third place is the first American player on the list, Michael Bradley, with a base salary of $6,000,000.
Bradley became a professional soccer player at the age of 16, starting his career at New York Red Bulls in 2004. His appearances with the team along with his distinguishing talent attracted many European teams and SC Heerenveen included him in its roster in 2006. The transfer from New York Red Bulls cost $250,000 and made him the youngest player that has ever been sold from MLS.
He stayed in Heerenveen for a two-year period, scoring 16 goals in 63 caps and then he moved to Borussia Monchengladbach in 2008. In his last year in the team, Bradley was loaned to Aston Villa. The next stop in his career was the Italian team Chievo, whose fans named Bradley “The General” due to his style of playing. A good season with Chievo sent him to Roma, which bought him for €3,750,000. He stayed there until 2014, having 41 appearances and one goal before returning to his country to sign with Toronto F.C. with a transfer fee of $10,000,000.
Michael Bradley was a starter for the U.S. national team in FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. So far, he counts 106 appearances and 15 goals with his national team.
4. Similarly to Bradley, Frank Lampard receives $6,000,000 as a base salary from New York City F.C. The 37-year-old English Midfielder is the oldest player in the list.
Lampard was one of the basic contributors to Chelsea's titles, which included three FA Premier League titles, a UEFA Champions League, and a UEFA Europa League.
Individually, the English Midfielder has been the Premier League Player of the Season twice in seasons 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, while he was also voted as the UEFA Midfielder of the year in 2008. In addition, he has won the FIFA Player of the year Silver Award in 2005 and he was voted as the Premier League Player of the decade 2001-2010.
After a quite successful career in England, Lampard signed with New York City F.C. in January 2015 and he made his debut on August 1 of the same year.
The English star counts 106 appearances and 29 goals with his national team.
5. The fifth place of the list belongs to David Villa, who plays for New York City F.C. as a Striker, under a contract of $5,610,000.
In fact, within 5 years in Valencia, he managed to score 107 goals in 166 matches while he continued his goal-scoring recital in Barcelona by scoring 33 goals in 77 games.
According to Pepe Acebal, his former manager in Sporting Gijon, Villa
"...had great technical qualities. His first touch was superb and, although you can never be sure someone will make it, you could tell he was talented. He makes very clever diagonal runs, breaking away from defenders, and he invariably made the right decisions. He is very intuitive."
David Villa signed to New York City F.C. in 2014, deciding to leave Atletico Madrid after a season with 36 caps and 13 goals.
Villa has scored 59 goals in 97 appearances with his national team, Spain, which has won the 2008 UEFA European Championship and 2010 FIFA World Cup with him in the roster.
American soccer has been gaining momentum for years now, attracting world-class players and establishing a broad fan-base. What remains to be seen is how the evolution of MLS may affect soccer worldwide as more and more stars are interested in joining the league.
