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Xherdan Shaqiri earns more than 30 Man Utd and Arsenal stars with huge MLS wages
The former Premier League star cut short his stint with French side Lyon to move to the MLS and it's not hard to see why.
LA Galaxy prepare for the new MLS season
Xherdan Shaqiri is the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer, figures published by the MLS have confirmed. The former Liverpool winger picked up a salary of £6.55m ($8.15m) in his first season with Chicago Fire.
Having left Anfield for French side Lyon last summer, eyebrows were raised when the Swiss international departed Ligue 1 just six months later to join the MLS club for a reported club-record fee of £5.6m.
But confirmation of Shaqiri's wages in the US provided a clearer explanation as to why the ex-Bayern Munich, Inter Milan star opted to ditch European football for a new adventure across the Atlantic.
The Windy City club's sizeable investment is all the more significant because the 31-year-old's salary has swallowed up 41.8 per cent of their overall wage budget.
Despite being the club's top earner, Fire finished 12th in the Eastern Conference last season are currently 13th in the current campaign. Poor form has seen head coach Ezra Hendrickson sacked this month as a consequence.
Shaqiri has made five starts this term, with another two appearances off the bench from the opening 12 matches.
But if things on the pitch aren't going particularly well for the 'Alpine Messi' at the moment, his personal earnings are surely more than making up for it.
Based on his current wages, Shaqiri earns more than at least 30 Man Utd and Arsenal players, including the likes of Ben White, Luke Shaw, Kieran Tierney, Granit Xhaka, Edward Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Torssard, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale.
Only 62 players are earning more than him in the Premier League, according to the EPL salary rankings on sportrac. Aston Villa midfielder Philippe Coutinho is 63rd on the list, with the former Liverpool and Barcelona star earning the same level of wages as Shaqiri.
No player in the MLS can currently match Shaqiri's £6.5m earnings, but some do come close. Former Napoli legend Lorenzo Insigne is picking up £6m at Toronto FC while teammate Federico Bernardeschi is banking £5m a year.