Academy grad signs deal

local players and producing future stars of our team in the short and long term.”

A homegrown player is one signed to a club’s MLS team who has lived in the club’s territory and spent at least one year with the academy team. A homegrown player ’s salary does not count against the team’s salary cap, creating financial flexibility for it to build its roster.

Davies and former Seattle Sounders defender and current Newcastle United F.C. right back DeAndre Yedlin are notable former MLS homegrown players.

Ye d l i n p l aye d two seasons wth the Sounders before joining Tottenham of the Premier League in 2014. He’s been with Newcastle for the last four years and became the first MLS homegrown to be on a U.S. men’s national team World Cup roster in 2014.

The Philadelphia Union’s Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie, and Sounders forward Jordan Morris are notable current MLS homegrown players, with all three being named to the MLS Best XI for the 2020 season. Aaronson will transfer to Austrian club FC Red Bull Salzburg in January for the highest transfer fee for a U.S.-based homegrown player.

Jason Kreis, Fort Lauderdale CF head coach and

Inter Miami’s senior academy director, spoke about the importance of MLS teams signing homegrown players with the South Florida Sun Sentinel in August.

“It’s always difficult to go out and be thinking about buying all of your players from international teams,” Kreis said at the time. “There’s always a high level of risk involved there if you haven’t actually worked with a player for an extended period of time. You’ll see many, many hits and many, many misses when you’re trying to scout and acquire international players.

“If you can develop your own players and you know everything about that player because you worked with them, now I think you really minimize that risk.”

Inter Miami has 18 players under contract for the 2021 season:

Drake Callender, John McCarthy;

Nico Figal, Leandro González Pirez, Christian Makoun, Dylan Nealis, Jairo Quinteros;

George Acosta, Jay Chapman, Blaise Matuidi, Lewis Morgan, Matías Pellegrini, Rodolfo Pizarro, Victor Ulloa, Felipe Valencia;

Fo r w a r d s : Ju l i á n Carranza, Gonzalo Higuaín, Robbie Robinson.

Inter Miami Academy graduate Felipe Valencia became the first academy product to sign with the club’s Major League Soccer team.