:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65008848/1161100238.jpg.0.jpg)
It’s all happening down at Inter Miami, the Beckham-backed, MLS-expansion club. Uruguayan Edinson Cavani is the latest big name to be linked with the organization.
The Uruguayan, 32, looks set to scorn the chance of an emotional return to Napoli when his PSG contract runs out in 2020, in favour of a move to MLS.
Although Inter Miami officials would not confirm or deny if they had been in talks with Cavani, Uruguayan analyst and former Libertadores Cup winner with Penarol, Alvaro Izquierdo reported the news, Sunday. He even mentioned the timing for the move. Cavani would join Inter in June 2020.
Other players who reportedly have had contact with the expansion side include a star-studded cast; James Rodriguez, Radamel Falcao, and Luis Suarez.
Cavani’s strike rate at the highest level is an impressive one. He played in Serie A with Palermo and Napoli before moving to PSG in 2013, where he’s been an integral part of the Parisiens’ Ligue Un dominance. Cavani needs 6 more goals to reach 200 in the colours of PSG. He has played for them 281 times.
On the international stage he’s appeared for Uruguay (48 goals/114 caps) at the last three World Cups and was leading scorer in CONMEBOL qualifying for Russia 2018.
Inter Miami already look as though they will be a high calibre opponent in the Eastern Conference next season, despite so far, only signing three players.
Beckham and co-owner Jorge Mas, have said the team will carry three Designated Players, and understandably they appear to be going through the South American route, not unlike the examples set by Atlanta United and Los Angeles FC. So far, they have signed one — Argentine 19-year-old Matias Pellegrini, who is classified as a “Young Designated Player,” meaning only $150,000 of his salary counts against the cap.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/18968445/997244194.jpg.jpg)
Julian Carranza, another 19-year-old Argentine, and Christian Makoun, captain of Venezuela’s U20 team make up the trio of players signed to date. Even this reeks of quality. Makoun spent last season on loan in Italy with the Juventus U19 team, but an offer didn’t follow. According to the Miami Herald, both Real Madrid and Arsenal had shown interest in Makoun last year, and Atletico Madrid was in talks with him this summer.
He would not join Inter Miami until January 2020, and it’s still to be decided where the Venezuelan wiIl play out the rest of 2019.
The new club has still not yet nailed down a coach, but many luminaries’ names have been thrown around. Mas is on record as saying he would like to have the coaching position tied down by the end of this month. He said it would be, “somebody you know who has played and coached at the highest level.”
Laurent Blanc a former team-mate of Beckham’s and a coach Cavani played under at PSG is just one name mentioned. There’s also former Manchester United manager David Moyes, a frequent visitor to his condo in Naples, Florida, and current Napoli coach, Carlo Ancelotti, a friend and former coach of Beckham at AC Milan.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/18968450/1144964380.jpg.jpg)
Another in the frame and also a former AC Milan player and coach is Gennaro Gattuso, and many believe he’s Beckham’s top choice for the role.
Things do not look like getting any easier for Montreal Impact and other Eastern Conference rivals any time soon. A new glamour club is about to arrive to challenge the status quo, forcing the bar ever higher for the rest.