Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Coach not concerned with MLS’ probe into signing of Matuidi
This week may have been the official start to preseason camp, but for many Inter Miami CF players, training camp started weeks ago.
After a prolonged offseason in which Inter Miami were able to reflect on the disappointments of their inaugural season, many players returned to South Florida earlier in the winter looking to get back to work — which made a great first impression on their new coach.
“That showed me that they got good attitudes,” said Phil Neville, who replaced Diego Alonso as the team’s coach in January. “They want to be better and they’re a hungry set of players. Even though [Monday] was officially the first start, for me I’ve been watching them for a while now. We’re ahead of the curve physically, tactically and technically.
“The boys are ready. As a coach, preseason is probably the most enjoyable [period]. You can get to connect with your players. The sooner we can connect as a team, the sooner they understand my philosophy, the better we’ll be as a team.”
But even as Neville tries to keep his attention on training camp and the 2021 MLS season, which starts on April 17, one of the main focuses for Inter Miami have been MLS’s investigation of the team’s Blaise Matuidi signing from last August — specifically, if the signing complied with the league’s salary budget and roster rules.
Neville said he isn’t too concerned with the investigation and is expecting a decision soon.
“People above me have been really strong and said, ‘Look we will sort this problem out’,” Neville added. “There’s obviously conversations and dialogue and a process with the league that is ongoing at this moment and time. My focus is obviously just with the team — to prepare the team for preseason.
“Ultimately, over the next probably 5-7 days, this will be sorted out between the league and the management above me. It is not something I have been told I need to worry about.”
As for how the investigation is affecting Matuidi, both Neville and winger Lewis Morgan — who signed a new contract with Inter Miami on Monday — said he hasn’t been too bothered by the matter during camp.
“What I do know is that Blaise is in here training every day, working hard, a smile on his face, just like normal Blaise Matuidi,” Morgan added. “He is professional and he is taking everything in his stride. Obviously, as a team, we are hoping it gets resolved, but I do not think there are many players that are probably too knowledgeable about everything going on.”
If Matuidi is reclassified from a targeted allocation money player to a designated player, then Matías Pellegrini would need to be reclassified on the roster as well.
Pellegrini, 20, is signed as a young designated player. MLS teams can only have three designated players on their roster and Inter Miami have already filled those slots with Gonzalo Higuaín and Rodolfo Pizarro also on the team.
It isn’t known if Inter Miami could use allocation money to buy down Pellegrini’s deal or if he could be designated to the under22 player initiative that MLS is starting this season. The initiative will allow clubs to sign up to three younger players with no limits on acquisition fees and at a reduced budget charge — $150,000 or $200,000, depending on their age, according to The Athletic — as long as their salary isn’t greater than the maximum salary budget charge ($612,500 in 2021).
Although Pellegrini struggled during his first season in MLS, Neville has been encouraged by the young Argentine midfielder during practices.
“What I said to him on Day One is he has to start enjoying his football again — playing with freedom, like he used to do as a kid,” Neville said. “When you’re relaxed, you’re happy, you play your best football. Ultimately, he didn’t play his best last year. He was new to the country. He was a boy coming to a new country, new culture and to MLS, which is a different style of football. What he said to me was that he wants to work as hard as he can. And I’ve seen a boy that’s shown all those qualities. He’s still young and needs time to develop.”
Inter Miami will train at their facility in Fort Lauderdale for the next 2 ½ weeks, travel throughout Florida for a week for training and closed-door friendlies before returning to South Florida for the preseason’s final two weeks.
They’re looking to use the time ahead of them to develop the chemistry and identity multiple players said they lacked last season.
“The big difference now — we’re in the same position we were in last year, but now we’re training together every day,” center back Leandro Gonzalez Pirez said. “This is the best thing we can have. Last year, we weren’t together training — it didn’t matter with the pandemic or not.”
And because Neville came to Inter Miami speaking both English and Spanish proficiently — which was aided during the one year he was as an assistant coach at Valencia CF in Spain — he’s confident the team will have stronger communication than it did last year.
“I’m comfortable speaking Spanish off-camera, and that’s the most important thing,” Neville said with a laugh. “We’ve got three players on the squad who need the translation — Nico [Figal], Christian [Makoun] and Pizarro — even though Rodolfo tells me every single day his English is absolutely perfect.”
“In terms of the group, what we’ve tended to do is to speak a universal language in English, and then maybe after the meeting [Figal and Makoun] stay behind to reinforce the messages they may not have understood. We’ve got a really good understanding that communication is absolutely vital within a team. The one thing I think we can learn from last year is the communication has to be better. Make sure there’s one message — one message heard and one message spoken.”