Former Stoke star third highest paid MLS player behind Lionel Messi

The winger currently plays for Chicago Fire after leaving Lyon in 2022, leaving European football behind to move to the United States.

The 32-year-old has scored 14 and assisted 12 in 62 appearances with the Fire struggling after finishing 12th out of 14 teams.

Nevertheless, Shaqiri is still the third-best-paid player in the MLS - making £6.05million ($7.35m) per year.

That works out at nearly £116,000-a-week, while he is also Chicago Fire's most expensive player after joining for £6m.

However, that is nothing compared to what Messi is making at Inter Miami, perhaps as expected.

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The World Cup winner moved to the Florida club this summer after his contract expired at Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi is making just under £10m ($12m) per year, which works out at around £200,000-a-week.

That might seem low for a player who was making more than double that at PSG but this is just his base salary, which is topped up by several sponsorships and bonuses.

It also does not include a mammoth signing-on fee that was included in his deal and, in total, the 36-year-old can expect to make up to £123.7m ($150m) at the end of his two-and-a-half year contract.

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While Messi's career is full of breaking records and winning trophies with Barcelona, PSG and Argentina, Shaqiri's own path is somewhat different.

Having first hit the limelight at Bayern Munich, he fell down the pecking order and joined Inter Milan before a shock move to Stoke in 2015, playing there for three years.

Liverpool managed to snip him up for a bargain £13m after he could not save the Potters from relegation and he was renowned for his dazzling skills and outrageous goals.

Shaqiri and Messi are not the only big earners in the MLS and Lorenzo Insigne currently makes the second-most in the league.

Taking home £6.18m ($7.5m) per year at Toronto FC, it places him marginally higher than Shaqiri, making £119,000-a-week.

Insigne had played his entire career at Napoli before leaving in 2022, making the move to Toronto like other Italian players of the past including Sebastian Giovinco, Federico Bernardeschi and Domenico Criscito.