Team buys out Pellegrini’s contract

The fallout from Inter Miami CF’s designated-player conundrum has been revealed: the team used its one offseason buyout on Matías Pellegrini so it could have the league-allowed three designated players to become roster-compliant by Friday’s deadline.

And Major League Soccer found during its investigation that the club wasn’t roster-compliant during the 2020 season after signing Blaise Matuidi last August, with the punishment from its discovery expected to be announced soon.

Inter Miami had four designated players, one more than MLS allows, on their team heading into Friday: Gonzalo Higuaín, Matuidi, Pellegrini and Rodolfo Pizarro.

The league’s designated-player rules allow teams to acquire up to three players whose compensation and acquisition costs are greater than the maximum budget charge ($612,500) while carrying the maximum budget charge against the team’s salary budget ($4.9 million), meaning Inter Miami had to offload one of their designated players and Pellegrini was the one chosen.

Pellegrini was one of Inter Miami’s first signings after the club paid a transfer fee between $6 and $9 million to acquire him from Argentine club Estudiantes.

He started at the left wing in six of Inter Miami’s first seven games, but he had a difficult time finding his footing during his first year in MLS — his first outside of Argentina. Pellegrini fluctuated between being a starter (six games), sub (six games) or unused sub (four games) in the team’s final 16 matches. He recorded one goal and two assists in 19 games (12 starts) in 2020.

Pellegrini will join Fort Lauderdale CF, Inter Miami’s USL League One side, on loan.

Inter Miami’s buyout will clear Pellegrini from their salary budget, but Pellegrini will maintain his contract — and salary — with the league while Inter Miami maintain his MLS rights.

He won’t be eligible to compete on the team’s 2021 MLS roster, but he’ll stay within the organization — allowing the club the chance to loan or transfer him to another team around the world when more transfer windows open over the summer. Inter Miami won’t be able to trade or loan him to another team in MLS because they bought him out, according to The Athletic.

Higuaín, Matuidi and Pizarro will be the team’s three designated players for the 2021 season.

“We’ve been working with Matías, his representatives and MLS to reach an agreement, and at this time we believe this is the best option for all parties,” Chris Henderson, Inter Miami chief soccer officer and sporting director, said in a statement. “Matías is a talented young player with an exciting career ahead. He will remain with the organization as we work on finding an on-field opportunity and next steps for him.”

MLS has been investigating the club’s signing of the 33-year-old French midfielder from last summer since March 5 and whether it complied with the league’s salary budget and roster guidelines.

Inter Miami announced that it signed Matuidi using targeted allocation money, an MLS mechanism that allows clubs to sign players whose annual budget charge falls between $612,500 and $1.612 million during the 2020 season. Any player who has a budget charge more than $1.612 million is required to be counted as a designated player.

The league’s investigation found that Matuidi’s compensation was above the compensation limit for a TAM-player and he should’ve been registered as a designated player. Part of the league’s statement read: “Inter Miami CF violated the designated player limit as the team had three designated players in addition to Matuidi during 2020. Inter Miami has agreed [to] an off-season buyout with one of its other designated players, Matias Pellegrini, and therefore, will be in compliance with the league’s limit on the number of designated players for the start of the 2021 season.

The league is finalizing the investigation and will be announcing the results of that investigation, including sanctions, in the near future.”