Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Team set to sign Juventus’ Matuidi
Inter Miami CF look like they have found their third designated player, according to multiple reports.
Italy-based Sky Sports journalist Fabrizio Romano tweeted Monday morning that the club reached a “total agreement” Monday with Juventus for midfielder Blaise Matuidi. ESPN reported Matuidi, 33, will undergo his medical exam in Paris and will sign a three-year deal with Inter Miami.
Major League Soccer’s secondary transfer window opens Wednesday and runs through Oct. 19. If the deal is finalized, Matuidi is expected to join Matias Pellegrini and Rodolfo Pizarro as the team’s three designated players.
Matuidi joined Juventus in 2017 for a reported $27.5 million fee and has a current market value of $12 million, according to German-based Transfermarkt. Even if Matuidi takes the pay cut ESPN reported he is and the transfer fee for him is free as The Athletic’s Sam Stejskal tweeted it could be, he’s expected to earn more than the $1.53 million maximum salary a player can earn in the league without being registered as a designated player.
Inter Miami declined to comment on the reports on Monday. Matuidi has spent the past three years with Juventus — which has won the Serie A championship the past nine seasons. He’s previously played for Troyes (2004-07), Saint-Etienne (2007-11) and Paris SaintGermain (2011-17). Matuidi was teammates with David Beckham, Inter Miami co-owner and president of soccer operations, at PSG in 2013 before Beckham retired that same year.
He has been a key cog in France’s national men’s soccer team for the past decade. Matuidi made 84 appearances with the national team since 2010, playing in the 2014 World Cup and a member of the team that won the 2018 World Cup.
As a central midfielder, he’d bolster an Inter Miami attack that’s struggled to create quality scoring opportunities in their inaugural MLS season.
Inter Miami has lost all five of their matches — two defeats on the road and three during the MLS is Back tournament — by one goal. They’re scheduled to resume the 2020 season in their home debut against Orlando City SC on Aug. 22 at Inter Miami CF Stadium.