Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Inter Miami sign Morgan to new contract
Lewis Morgan took home Inter Miami CF’s club-awarded MVP honors for 2020, and on the first day of preseason training camp ahead the 2021 season, the team awarded him with a richer contract.
Inter Miami announced Monday morning that they signed Morgan to a new deal using targeted allocation money — an MLS mechanism that allows clubs to sign players whose annual salary exceeds the maximum budget charge ($612,500 in 2021).
The new contract is for three years with an option for the 2024 season. Morgan’s expected to get a pay raise from his reported $400,000 salary from last year after his breakout 2020 season.
“It’s something that’s kind of been ongoing since the end of last season,” Morgan said. “Obviously, both parties wanted to get it sorted. I’m delighted to be here. I just wanted to commit my future to the club. The club’s been great for me. Hopefully, I can keep repaying the faith they’ve shown in me.”
Morgan, who originally signed with Inter Miami in January 2020 from Scottish Premiership side Celtic FC to little fanfare, led the team in goals (five) and assists (eight) across 23 regular-season games last season.
The Scottish winger showcased his ability as a playmaker from out wide on the right flank with Inter Miami, recording 14 “big chances created” — tied with Seattle Sounders midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro for the most in MLS — and creating the second-most chances (65) in the league last season behind only league MVP Alejandro Pozuelo.
Phil Neville, Inter Miami’s new coach who led the team in its first mandatory preseason practice session on Monday, called Morgan’s signing “equally as good or better than the signings we’ve made already.”
“When you think about new signings, you look outside of the club, but sometimes the most important signings are those from within the club,” he said. “That was the first thing me and Chris both unanimously agreed on — the fact that this boy had a great season, we need to make sure we keep showing him this club really values him really highly.
“He’s a hungry player. The performances I’ve seen in training so far, he’s a real leader within the group in terms of keeping the standard high. That’s probably the most important thing I’ve seen so far.”
And at Inter Miami, Morgan feels valued, which factored into why he signed a new deal with the club after reportedly garnering interest from European teams — such as the Premier League’s Sheffield United and English Championship club Reading — throughout the offseason.
“In football, it’s important to try and repay clubs that show faith in you,” he said. “Miami’s done that with me. They gave me a massive opportunity to come out here and perform. There’s always interest if you’re doing well. With regards to speculation, I don’t really pay too much attention to it because I knew this is where I wanted to be for this year and the coming years. It’s a short career and you want to be somewhere where you feel valued and I definitely feel like that here.”
Morgan, 24, sees Inter Miami as a club he can continue to grow with, saying, “I’m definitely not finished here and I’ve got so much more to give”.
“As a forward-thinker player, it’s that end product that everyone goes all about,” Morgan added. “Each season I set a high standard. I always set goals — I want to get double-figure goals and assists. This season’s no different. I want to be a part of a winning team and I think we’re going to build that culture here. It’s all well-and-good having a good year individually, but it’s more important that the performs. If I’m playing as part of a team that’s doing well then just naturally my game will raise as well.”
Morgan has aspirations to once again play for the Scotland national soccer team. He made appearances in two friendlies for the national team in May 2018 when Alex McLeish was Scotland’s coach.
Scotland will play three World-Cup qualifiers at the end of March and is scheduled to take part in the UEFA European Championship over the summer, which Morgan called “a tricky situation” because of MLS’s schedule, with the regular season scheduled to start on April 17.
“The reality is I know it’ll be difficult to forge myself in there just because our season is so far pushed back,” he said. “If you want to get in there, you need to be performing with your club first and foremost, so you can’t really think about national team. You need to think about your club. If I can have a good start to the season and perform to the levels I’m expecting of myself, then there might be a chance to get in.”
And while Neville knows Morgan has what it takes to be called up to the Scotland national team, he’d prefer that doesn’t happen — for obvious reasons.
“Yeah, I can,” Neville said when asked if he sees an international player in Morgan, “but selfishly I don’t want him to be picked for the Euros because he’d be away from us for quite a bit of time. He could probably play in most leagues in the world because of his quality. There’s still another five, 10, 15 percent to come from Lewis from what I saw from last year. I’m really excited to [see] his development over the next few years with Inter Miami.”