When will he begin hawking his tattoos?

Thierry Henry replaces David Beckham as MLS’s most highly paid player. The former Arsenal striker earns a base salary of $5m which increases to $5.6m with compensation included. Next in line, Henry’s Red Bull team mate, defender Rafa Marquez with a $4.6m salary and no guaranteed compensation.

David Beckham, the top earner the last five years, saw his base salary decline to $3m with another $1m added as compensation, in his new contract. This represents a 40% cut from his previous guaranteed salary of $6.5m. But hey, all is not dark in the Beckham household for daddy gets a bonus carrying the Olympic torch. The MLS players union released their 2012 player wages this weekend:

1. Thierry Henry (Red Bulls): $5,000,000 – $5,600,000.00
2. Rafa Marquez (Red Bulls): $4,600,000 – $4,600,000.00
3. David Beckham (Galaxy): $3,000,000 – $4,000,000.00
4. Robbie Keane (Galaxy): $2,917,241 – $3,417,242.00
5. Torsten Frings (Toronto): $2,000,000 – $2,413,666.67*
6. Landon Donovan (Galaxy): $2,400,000 – $2,400,000.00
7. Julian De Guzman (Toronto): $1,863,996 – $1,910,746.00
8. Danny Koevermans (Toronto): $1,150,000 – $1,563,323.33*
9. Kris Boyd (Portland): $1,250,00 – $1,500,000.00
10. Eric Hassli (Vancouver): $550,000 – $790,000.00

The Galaxy and Toronto boast the most number of players in the rich list but they are at the bottom of the table in their respective divisions. Toronto have scored 8 goals in their 10 matches having won only one of those. Their performance comes with a caveat for Frings and Koeverman have not provided much impact being out with injuries. Plus, MLS could not you have rounded off their salaries. Did you owe them for a stick of chewing gum?

The high octane Galaxy have scored only 15 goals in their 13 matches. Pretty shocking.

It’s nearly as if Landon Donovan is saddled with a reverse Messi problem. He scores more goals for his country because there is better quality in the midfield than his own club. Just look at what he did against Scotland with Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones providing that insurance playing just behind him.

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