Carlos Vela: What was his first salary before mega millions at LAFC

Mexican star, Carlos Vela is one of the flagship players in the American Major League Soccer (MLS). After playing in Europe with Arsenal to no effect, the forward has followed a long route to finding success. While at Arsenal, Vela was constantly on loan, to clubs such as Celta Vigo, Salamanca, Osasuna, West Brom and finally at Real Sociedad. 

His loan move to Sociedad in 2011 was made permanent in 2012 and that was when the forward man made his move away from Arsenal FC permanent. Vela was very successful at Sociedad where he played 184 games and scored 54 goals. The 32-year-old had a very successful period in Spain with Sociedad where he was on a weekly salary of £21,000. This comes to annual pay of £1.092m. 

This is the first salary that is recorded for Carlos Vela because during his time at Arsenal, the wages of players was not a big deal yet and it wasn't usually made public. While at Sociedad, Vela's salary was increased to £33,000 per week. This made him earn an annual salary of £1.716m. At the time, this salary made him one of the highest-earning Mexican footballers in the world. 

Now, Vela is the best-paid player in the MLS with a base weekly salary of £95,000 per week, which translates to £4.94m per year. However, his match bonuses and performance bonuses shoot his salaries to up to £6.5m per year. Vela plays for the Los Angeles FC since he moved to the club in 2018. So far, he has played 83 games and scored 57 goals for the MLS side.