David Beckham tops MLS money list ahead of Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez

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Even though he has not played a single second for the Galaxy this season, midfielder David Beckham still tops Major League Soccer’s money list with a guaranteed salary of $6.5 million a year.

But Beckham, who is recovering from an Achilles’ injury and is unlikely to play a game before next month at the earliest, now has company at the top of the MLS heap, with the recently signed New York Red Bulls pair of Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez not far behind him.

French forward Henry, a 1998 World Cup winner and 2000 European champion, earns $5.6 million, while Mexican defender Marquez makes slightly less, at $5.56 million.

Those three hold the high ground, with Galaxy forward Landon Donovan fourth on the list released by the MLS Players Union, with a guaranteed annual income of $2.12 million.

Rounding out the top 10 are New York’s Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel at $1.91 million; the Chicago Fire’s Mexican midfielder/forward Nery Castillo at $1.78 million; Toronto FC’s Canadian midfielder Julian de Guzman at $1.71 million; Chicago’s Swedish midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg at $1.31 million; Toronto’s Spanish forward Miguel ‘Mista’ Martinez at $987,337, and DC United’s Montenegran midfielder Branko Boskovic at $516,200.

The highest-paid American players on the list after Donovan are forwards Taylor Twellman of the New England Revolution at $459,500, Brian McBride of Chicago at $403,333, and Brian Ching of the Houston Dynamo and Conor Casey of the Colorado Rapids, each at $350,000.

The top-earning Chivas USA player is Mexican midfielder Rodolfo Espinoza at $218,500.

-- Grahame L. Jones