Thomas Müller Joins Vancouver Whitecaps as Highest-Paid Player with €6.6M Contract, Earning One-Third of Messi’s MLS Salary

Thomas Müller signs a €6.6 million deal with Vancouver Whitecaps, becoming the club’s highest-paid player. Despite a big pay rise, he will earn about one-third of Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami salary, highlighting MLS salary cap complexities and transfer negotiations.

Thomas Müller is set to become the highest-paid player in Vancouver Whitecaps history with a contract worth around €6.6 million ($7.5 million) over the next year and a half. For the remainder of the 2025 season, Müller will earn approximately €600,000 (~$687,000) under a Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) mechanism, which allows the club to sign key players despite salary cap restrictions. Starting from the 2026 season, he will occupy a Designated Player (DP) slot with a reported salary of about €6 million ($7.5 million), reflecting a significant pay rise

Despite becoming Vancouver’s top earner, Müller’s salary remains roughly one-third of Lionel Messi’s contract with Inter Miami, who reportedly earns around €19 million ($21.5 million) annually. By comparison, MLS star Marco Reus is said to earn about €1 million at LA Galaxy. Müller’s last Bayern Munich salary was about €20 million per year, so this represents a reduced but still substantial MLS contract for the 35-year-old veteran

The transfer was complicated by MLS rules, including salary caps, allocation money, and the need to acquire Müller’s “discovery rights” from FC Cincinnati, which Vancouver reportedly paid around $400,000 in General Allocation Money to secure