440 million euro contract: 23-year-old rejects mega offer

Created: 07/18/2022, 09:42

By: Andreas Knobloch

440 million for 15 years?

Apparently Juan Soto can only smile tiredly.

© IMAGO/David Seelig/Cal Sport Media

Baseball star Juan Soto rejects a record contract.

And once again sheds light on the astronomical player salaries in North America.

Munich/Washington – When Serge Gnabry demands 20 million euros a year from FC Bayern Munich, many football fans lose faith in the sport.

Such utopian sums are no longer within reach for many.

Now Gnabry has agreed somewhere close to the amount with FC Bayern Munich.

A lot of money, no question, but what's going on in the USA is another house number.

It doesn't matter whether it's the NFL, MLB or NBA - in the United States it's about completely different dimensions.

A 15-year contract, a salary of $440 million.

What sounds like a wild dream for the majority of working people could be reality for Juan Soto.

Could.

According to the portal The Athletic, the star player from the Washington Nationals is said to have rejected this offer, the duration and total amount of which is unparalleled in baseball history.

MLB: Juan Soto is considered one of the best hitters in the league

The 23-year-old Dominican is widely regarded as the league's top hitter, but the Nationals currently have a 30-63 record.

Most recently, Soto emphasized that he "didn't want to keep losing".

But the actual truth could be different.

Because the current deal, as absurd as it may sound, is only conditionally special.

On average, the offer from Washington would fetch Soto just over 29 million a year.

A lot of money, but not compared to the other top earners in Major League Baseball (MLB).

MLB: Utopian sums also in the NFL and NBA

Max Scherzer, Soto's former teammate, earned an average annual salary of $43 million over three years for his service with the New York Mets.

Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout signed a 12-year contract worth $432 million in 2019, unmatched in baseball to date.

Player salaries in North America have long seemed to know no bounds - not just in the MLB.

Football superstar Patrick Mahomes will get $503 million over a period of 10 years, basketball player Nikola Jokic recently agreed with his employer Denver Nuggets on the largest contract in NBA history: $264 million over five years.

"Washington," Soto said just a few months ago, "is still where I want to spend the rest of my career."

Just, it seems, not for $29.3 million a year.

After all, that would only be #15 on the MLB payroll.