Inter Miami needs to make significant squad changes to be in line with Major League Soccer’s financial rules. According to several sources at The Athletic, the club’s financial issues are apparently “dire” and need to be addressed soon. One executive from a different MLS team told the news outlet that Miami is “screwed.”
Miami either has to come up with a serious allocation of money and/or shed notable salary in the next week. The North American league’s roster compliance deadline date for the upcoming season is Feb. 20. The Florida club has already subtracted several players from the roster so far this winter. This includes deals to get rid of Josef Martinez, Kamal Miller, Chris McVey, Nicolás Stefanelli, Leandro González Pírez, and Dixon Arroyo.
Inter Miami has made key additions to an already bloated squad
Nevertheless, there is still work to do by the club. This is mostly due to notable additions to the squad in recent weeks. Superstar striker Luis Suarez was undoubtedly the biggest signing by Miami during the offseason. The Uruguayan agreed to a one-year contract back in December.
Julian Gressel and Nicolas Freire were recently added to the team’s roster as well. Neither move involved a transfer fee and the latter player was only brought in on loan from Pumas. Miami is, however, also finalizing a deal with Argentinos Juniors for highly rated youngster Federico Redondo. This move will set back Miami around $8 million.
MLS officials have not yet announced specifics on the financial roster regulations for the 2024 campaign. The salary budget for the 2023 season was a base of just over $5.2 million. This base does not exactly fully account for designated players though. These specific players, instead, hit the cap at the maximum budget charge no matter how much they make. Again, the 2024 financial aspects of the rules are unclear, but this max budget charge was $651,000 last season.
Allocation money helps expand each team’s salary cap. Exactly how much each MLS club, Miami included, has in allocation money is not available to the public.
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Club is open to selling at least 5 players this month
To help combat these issues, Miami is putting a plethora of players up for sale. This list of players, according to the aforementioned report, includes Gregore, Jean Mota, DeAndre Yedlin, Robert Taylor, and Sergii Kryvstov. While Miami is open to freeing up money by selling some stars, they have found it difficult to strike deals. This is because other MLS clubs know that Miami is desperate.
Nevertheless, Gregore and Mota seem the most likely candidates to soon depart the club. The South American duo could make returns to Brazil, as the transfer window in the domestic league there remains open. Both players were also two of Miami’s top six earners during the 2023 season. Assuming they do manage to sell the duo, the MLS club could then convert the transfer fees to allocation money.
Miami certainly seems as if they spent too much money before they first freed up the necessary cash. This tactic puts the club behind the eight-ball heading into the new campaign. Club officials will now scramble to offload players in the coming days to be in line with MLS rules.
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