Move aside Lionel Messi, Thomas Müller and Son Heung-Min bring in strong 2025 Topps Now MLS print runs
All the headlines regarding Major League Soccer since 2023 have been dominated by Lionel Messi’s presence at Inter Miami CF and the card market has followed suit in capitalizing on the Argentine superstar’s presence in the United States.
Topps delayed the release of their flagship 2023 Major League Soccer product until they could print cards that included Lionel Messi in his new Inter Miami digs and the company, which is owned by Fanatics, has continued to take advantage of Messi being covered by their MLS licensing agreement.
Topps Now MLS has been carried by Lionel Messi for the last three years and the company printed over 64,000 Messi Topps Now MLS base cards during his 2024 MLS MVP campaign. Messi has continued to dominate the Topps Now MLS checklist in 2025 but the MLS Summer Transfer Window included two major additions to the league, both of whom are incredibly desirable for soccer collectors.
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Major League Soccer added global stars Son Heung-Min and Thomas Müller to Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) and the Vancouver Whitecaps, respectively, this summer and the two have already made an impact on the Topps Now MLS checklist with sizable print runs.
Korean star Son Heung-Min signed with LAFC from Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League and made an immediate impact on the field and in the Topps Now MLS checklist.
Son already has three 2025 Topps Now MLS Cards since signing with LAFC and two of them, #73 and #80 have short print variations to hunt for. Son’s #73 sold 9,685 copies as collectors hunted for short print variations, the autograph and autograph-relic cards that were printed for that card. Son’s #80 sold only 3,531 copies as there was only the short print variation and autograph cards to chase along with the typical Topps Now MLS parallels. Son’s #77, the only card of his in Topps Now MLS that didn’t have a short print variation or autograph to chase, sold 1,192 copies.
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Müller signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps in Major League Soccer after spending his entire senior professional career with European giant Bayern Munich in Germany while also starring for the German Men’s national team, including their run to winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The German midfielder has been featured twice in 2025 Topps Now MLS and card #79 included possible autographs or autograph-relics to chase alongside parallels. #79 sold 1,645 copies while the only other Müller 2025 Topps Now MLS card, #81, only sold 653 copies. #81 didn’t have the opportunity for autographs and the print run reflected the lack of a chase card.
Before Son and Müller arrived, only three players had eclipsed 1,000 cards in their print run and the two newcomers have already exceeded that figure multiple times. Messi has been the king of Topps Now MLS’s checklist since he arrived at Inter Miami during the 2023 MLS season from French superpower Paris Saint-Germain but the tides could slowly be turning at the end of the 2025 MLS season.
They may not get the same print runs as Lionel Messi’s Topps Now MLS cards, but Son Heung-Min and Thomas Müller are both high-end, legacy players that collectors can now search for in that 2025 product.
