South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Nealis traded to Nashville SC
After just one season, Inter Miami CF has parted ways with Dylan Nealis.
The club traded the 22-year-old back to Nashville SC on Saturday for $175,000 in general allocation money.
Inter Miami selected Nealis out of Georgetown with the No. 3 pick in the 2020 SuperDraft. He was a finalist for the 2019 MAC Hermann Trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s top male and female college soccer players.
Inter Miami could receive an additional
$50,000 from Nashville SC if Nealis meets certain performance-based metrics. He’s signed with Nashville for the 2021 season, with options for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Nealis played 1,103 minutes across 19 regular-season matches (11 starts) with Inter Miami last season.
He was the team’s starting right back toward the beginning of 2020 before Nico Figal, who’s naturally a center back, stepped into that role for a significant part of the season.
Nealis stepped back into a starting role toward the end of the season and started in Inter Miami’s loss to Nashville in the playoff ’s play-in round.
Even before Nealis’ departure, Kelvin Leerdam was expected to be Inter Miami’s starting right back after he signed with the team as a free agent in March.
Leerdam started in 19 of his 21 appearances with the Seattle Sounders last season and is more of an attacking threat in the flanks than Nealis, whose departure leaves Leerdam as the lone natural right back on the roster.
Inter Miami coach Phil Neville previously said he sees Figal was both a center back and a right back, making it likely the
27-year-old Argentine will once again see time at right back when Leerdam isn’t playing.
“He has the quality to do both,” Neville said of Figal. “Nowadays, the modern defender probably tends to like having the ball at his feet rather than defending.
“Nico is the opposite. He’s a throwback to when I was a defender.
“I always think to myself when I look at defenders, ‘Who would I not like to play against if I was a center forward?’ Nico would probably come into that category.”
Inter Miami has filled 27 of its 30 roster spots heading into its home opener versus the LA Galaxy on April 18 at DRV PNK Stadium. Kieran Gibbs, a left back who signed with Inter Miami last month, will occupy the team’s 28th roster spot once he’s eligible to play for Inter Miami starting July
1 — after his contract with West Bromwich Albion expires.
Inter Miami’s 2021 roster
Goalkeepers (3): Drake Callender, Dylan Castanheira, John McCarthy;
Defenders (8): Nico Figal, Ian Fray, Joevin Jones, Kelvin Leerdam, Leandro González Pirez, Christian Makoun, Patrick Seagrist, Ryan Shawcross;
Midfielders (13): George Acosta, Edison Azcona, Jay Chapman, Gregore, Federico Higuain, Blaise Matuidi, Lewis Morgan, Matías Pellegrini, Josh Penn, Rodolfo Pizarro, Brek Shea, Victor Ulloa, Felipe Valencia;
Forwards (3): Julián Carranza, Gonzalo Higuaín, Robbie Robinson.