Andrew Leigh from Hudson River Blue Read More [[{“value”:”
For the second and final time in 2025, the Major League Soccer Players Association released the salaries of all rostered players in the league.
That means we get a new chance to tabulate New York City FC’s payroll and to see which teams and players rank as the salary and payroll leaders around MLS. Spoiler: Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami CF teammates dominate the spending and salary charts, though there’s a new second-highest paid player in the league behind Messi.
We covered the year’s first batch of MLS player salary data shared in late June here, and now read on for 5 Takeaways from this latest salary
1. The size of that Nico splash
With $3.65 million in guaranteed compensation, Nico Fernández Mercau is now the highest-paid New York City FC player. He’s also NYCFC’s highest earner since David Villa made $5.61 million in guaranteed compensation in 2018, his final season with the club. Nico is the first New York City player up over $3 million in annual compensation since Maxi Moralez earned $3.28 million during the 2021 season.
New York City FC | 2025 Player Salaries
Name
Pos
Base Salary
Guaranteed Comp
2024 G Comp
Change
% Change
1
Nico Fernández Mercau
M
$3,650,000
$3,650,000
—
—
—
2
Thiago Martins
D
$1,700,000
$2,162,000
$2,462,000
$-300,000
-12%
3
Hannes Wolf
M
$1,400,000
$1,510,000
$1,510,000
$0
0%
4
James Sands*
M
$1,250,000
$1,318,750
$1,058,333
$260,417
25%
5
Talles Magno*
M
$950,000
$1,065,000
$1,065,000
$0
0%
6
Raul Gustavo
D
$720,000
$812,960
—
—
—
7
Alonso Martínez
F
$700,000
$800,333
$328,483
$471,850
144%
8
Andrés Perea
M
$660,000
$726,500
$641,500
$85,000
13%
9
Julián Fernández
F
$660,000
$724,300
$628,300
$96,000
15%
10
Jovan Mijatović*
F
$650,000
$687,500
$687,500
$0
0%
11
Agustín Ojeda
M
$510,000
$577,833
$547,833
$30,000
5%
12
Aiden O’Neill
M
$540,000
$570,938
—
—
—
13
Keaton Parks
M
$400,000
$530,000
$1,030,000
$-500,000
-49%
14
Maxi Moralez
M
$480,000
$500,000
$500,000
$0
0%
15
Matt Freese
GK
$400,000
$491,677
$270,000
$221,677
82%
16
Mitja Ilenič
D
$300,000
$391,700
$331,700
$60,000
18%
17
Strahinja Tanasijević
D
$270,000
$338,750
$308,750
$30,000
10%
18
Justin Haak
M
$200,000
$265,833
$165,000
$100,833
61%
19
Kevin O’Toole
D
$225,000
$246,667
$195,833
$50,834
26%
20
Tayvon Gray
D
$103,992
$215,492
$461,500
$-246,008
-53%
21
Maximo Carrizo
M
$104,000
$137,523
$123,239
$14,284
12%
22
Jonny Shore
M
$104,000
$116,500
$83,901
$32,599
39%
23
Drew Baiera
D
$104,000
$109,936
$77,337
$32,599
42%
24
Greg Ranjitsingh†
GK
$104,000
$104,000
$172,688
$-68,688
-40%
25
Tomás Romero
GK
$104,000
$104,000
$71,401
$32,599
46%
26
Seymour Reid
F
$80,622
$95,437
—
—
—
27
Jacob Arroyave
M
$80,622
$93,620
—
—
—
28
Zidane Yañez
F
$80,622
$84,789
$75,568
$9,221
12%
29
Nico Cavallo
D
$80,622
$82,470
—
—
—
30
Max Murray
D
$80,622
$82,470
—
—
—
31
Prince Amponsah
D
$80,622
$80,622
—
—
—
32
Malachi Jones
F
$80,622
$80,622
$71,401
$9,221
13%
33
Alex Rando
GK
$80,622
$80,622
$71,401
$9,221
13%
Total
$13,623,968
$15,285,794
–
–
–
The Fernández Mercau signing bumped NYCFC’s payroll up from 24th in June to 14th in October, middle of the pack overall but now with one of the league’s highest-paid players – Fernández Mercau also comes in at No 21 on the league-wide compensation leaderboard.
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