MLS: Sanctions from Matuidi signing to be announced this week

MLS commissioner Don Garber told reporters Sunday evening during Inter Miami’s season-opening loss to the LA Galaxy at DRV PNK Stadium that the sanctions the club will face for not being roster-compliant during the 2020 season will be announced this week.

The league had launched an investigation into Inter Miami’s Blaise Matuidi signing from August, which the club said it used targeted allocation money for, and whether it complied with the league’s salary budget and roster guidelines.

Then, MLS announced Friday that Matuidi’s compensation was above the compensation limit for a TAM-player and he should’ve been registered as a designated player, meaning they weren’t roster-compliant when they signed Argentine forward Gonzalo Higuaín as a designated player in September.

The league’s designated-player rules allow teams to acquire up to three players whose compensation and acquisition costs are greater than the maximum budget charge ($612,500) while carrying the maximum budget charge against the team’s salary budget ($4.9 million).

Targeted allocation money is an MLS mechanism that allows clubs to sign players whose annual budget charge falls between $612,500 and $1.612 million. Any player who has a budget charge of more than $1.612 million is required to be counted as a designated player.

The club already had two designated players (Matías Pellegrini and Rodolfo Pizarro) on its roster when it signed Matuidi, meaning they had four players who should’ve been classified as designated players (Higuaín, Matuidi, Pellegrini and Pizarro) during the final half of the 2020 season.

“It was very clear that Miami was not in compliance with our roster rules,” Garber said. “They had to make a move in order to do that. We’re continuing the final [parts] of our investigation. There will be sanctions. It doesn’t matter what market you’re in, who runs your team or how difficult it might be to get through the year, you got to play by the same rules.”

To become roster-compliant for the 2021 season, Inter Miami used their one offseason buyout on Pellegrini and loaned him to the club’s USL League One team, Fort Lauderdale CF, so it could have the league allowed three designated players by last Friday’s deadline.