Jordi Alba to join Messi, Busquets at Inter Miami
It looks like yet another former Barcelona player is set to join Inter Miami. Jordi Alba will sign with the South Florida MLS side in the imminent future, according to Fabrizio Romano. The Spanish left-back will join his former Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets in South Florida.
“We’re going to sign Alba today,” Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas said. “I know that [manager] Tata [Martino] is counting on him for the second half of the Cup.”
Via ESPN
Alba’s future has been up in the air ever since it was announced he would leave Barca at the conclusion of last season. He had been with Barcelona for 11 years and had originally come through the club’s youth system.
During his time at the club, he made over 450 appearances and won countless trophies, including six La Liga titles, five Copas del Rey and one Champions League.
After a storied career at Barcelona, he decided the time was right to move on, and the club agreed to terminate his contract a year early. Since then, teams from around Europe and Saudi Arabia have shown interest in signing the 34-year-old left-back.
Inter Miami ultimately won the race, however. He will now join Messi and Busquets in the MLS. It has been suspected that Alba would be heading to Miami for a while now. However, the MLS has very strict salary and roster rules that have made his signing complicated.
The MLS only allows each team to have three designated players (DPs). DPs are allowed to be considered outside of each team’s salary cap, allowing MLS teams to use these slots on higher-profile players.
Inter Miami currently has three DPs: Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Leonardo Campana. For Alba’s signing to work, Inter Miami was likely going to have to register either Alba or Campana using targeted allocation money (TAM). However, after Mas’ comments, it looks like the club has figured out this problem, and Alba is set to move to Inter Miami this summer.
Inter Miami is also trying to sign Luis Suárez from Brazilian club Grêmio. However, this will be difficult to pull off. Grêmio is making Suárez’s departure difficult and does not want him to play for another club in 2023. Plus, Inter Miami would struggle to register him alongside its other superstars.
Whether the club can sign Suárez or not, Inter Miami is making big moves. It will be interesting to see if Alba, Messi and Busquets can help turn around an awful start to the 2023 season for Inter Miami.
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