Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dutch goalkeeper Marsman signs, will join team in July
Inter Miami CF officially signed Nick Marsman, the Dutch goalkeeper they had been linked to for the past couple of weeks.
Marsman — who currently plays for Feyenoord of Eredivisie, the top soccer division in the Netherlands — will join Inter Miami’s roster in July.
His contract with Inter Miami will run through the 2023 MLS season, and he’ll occupy an international roster slot pending the receipt of his international transfer certificate and visa.
Inter Miami had been linked to multiple goalkeepers throughout the offseason.
Chris Henderson, Inter Miami’s chief soccer officer and sporting director, said last week that goalkeeper was a position that the team wanted to have competition at, and it appears that Inter Miami will have it with the 30-year-old Zwolle, Netherlands native’s arrival in the summer.
“He brings a wealth of qualities both in and out of possession which will impact and complement our style of play,” Henderson said of Marsman in a statement. “We head into the 2021 season confident that our strength this year at the goalkeeper position will come from our combined qualities.
“Nick’s addition alongside John McCarthy, Drake Callender and Dylan Castanheira, who have already impressed in preseason, reinforces our ambition and intent to have a high level of competition at every position.”
McCarthy will likely be the starting goalkeeper until Marsman’s arrival over the summer.
Marsman has made 136 Eredivisie appearances, mostly for FC Twente and Feyenoord, since making his debut in the league in 2011.
He started his senior career at Twente, where he also spent his youth career, in Oct. 2011. Marsman made 121 appearances across all competitions for Twente, recording 29 clean sheets from 2011-17. He spent time on loan with Dutch team the Go Ahead Eagles in the Netherlands’ second division during the 2012-2013 season, making 41 appearances and recording nine clean sheets.
Marsman joined Dutch club FC Utrecht in the summer of 2017, making a few appearances for the club across two seasons before joining Feyenoord in July 2019.
He’s made 29 appearances during his two seasons at Feyenoord and has recorded 12 clean sheets. Marsman recently became Feyenoord’s starting goalkeeper and has been consistently featured during their ongoing 2020-2021 season — making 25 appearances and recording 10 clean sheets for a Feyenoord team that’s No. 5 in the Eredivisie standings.
Inter Miami have filled 27 of their 30 roster spots heading into their home opener versus the LA Galaxy on Sunday at DRV PNK Stadium. Marsman along with Kieran Gibbs, the English left back who signed with Inter Miami last month, will occupy the team’s 28th and 29th roster spots — barring any other changes to the team’s roster — once they join Inter Miami in July.
The club will need to free up two of its international roster slots or acquire them from another MLS club to comply with the league’s roster rules to make room for Gibbs and Marsman.
MLS teams are given eight international roster slots in their expansion seasons for players who require an international transfer certificate and/or visa. Teams can free up international roster spots when one of their players receives a green card and become domestic players — like Julián Carranza and Matías Pellegrini did last year — or by trading for one. There isn’t a limit on the number of international roster slots a club can have.
The seven players who are currently occupying an international roster spot on Inter Miami’s roster: Nico Figal, Gregore, Gonzalo Higuaín, Blaise Matuidi, Lewis Morgan, Rodolfo Pizarro and Ryan Shawcross. Inter Miami included an international roster slot in their trade for Wil Trapp last January, with Trapp now playing for Minnesota United