Lionel Messi remains Major League Soccer’s highest-paid player, but he has new company in the eight-figure club. In the biannual release of player earnings Wednesday by the MLS Players Association, Messi’s pay remained the same as in the spring: a base salary of $12 million and guaranteed compensation of $20.45 million.

Inter Miami star Lionel Messi says MLS needs to loosen its restrictions on how clubs build their rosters in order to grow soccer's footprint in the United States.