INTER MIAMI
Inter Miami use ´buy-down´ to afford superstar squad
Luis Suárez will join Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba in Florida, but the Herons have just three Designated Player spots.
Inter Miami wasted little time in improving their squad in the off-season, adding two new forwards to Gerado ´Tata´ Martino´s roster. Luis Suárez joins up with his former Barcelona teammates and two-time MLS Cup winner Julian Gressel offers another attacking option.
But with Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba also at the club, how can Inter Miami satisfy the league´s stringent salary restrictions? Each MLS club has a maximum of three Designated Player roster spots, with all other players only able to receive a limited salary.
Non-DP players have a Maximum Salary Budget Charge of $651,250 per year. However a player´s earnings can be supplemented with up to $1,000,000 from the team´s Allocation Money budgets in a process known as a ´buy-down´. This reduces the team´s ability to strengthen in other areas but allows them to concentrate resources on certain non-DP signings.
Who are Inter Miami´s Designated Players?
Unsurprisingly, when Lionel Messi arrived in MLS last summer he immediately took one of the team´s Designated Player spots. Sergio Busquets was also given a DP berth, meaning that Mexican midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro was forced to leave the club to make room for the new signings.
The third Designated Player spot in 2023 was taken by combative midfielder Gregore. The Brazilian was named the club´s MVP in 2021 but missed much of last season due to injury. He returned to first team contention at the end of the 2023 campaign and signed a new contract, keeping him in Miami through the 2025 season.
Messi, Busquets and Gregore look set to remain Inter Miami´s three Designated Players for the 2024 season. Jordi Alba does not have a DP contract but his salary for 2023 was supplemented with Allocation Money to give a guaranteed compensation of $1,250,000.
What is Luis Suárez´ Inter Miami salary?
The Herons failed to qualify for the post-season in 2023 but they enjoyed a remarkable change of fortunes during the campaign. That improvement was sparked by the arrival of Messi, Busquets and Alba, and Luis Suárez is expected to further bolster their MLS Cup credentials.
Suárez was reportedly eager to reunite with his former Barcelona teammates and has agreed to a vastly reduced salary package. Full details of his Miami deal have not yet been made public but the league´s salary restrictions give an outline of what he may be earning.
The Mirror reports that the Uruguayan may be given an annual salary of just $200,000, with the rest of his compensation coming from the team´s Allocation Money budget. However his salary can only be increased to a maximum of $1,651,250, meaning that his total compensation will still represent a major pay cut for Suárez.
Now 36 years old, Suárez has already built a huge personal fortune from a career in Europe with the likes of Liverpool and Barcelona. In the twilight of his career the forward looks set to settle for a more modest salary as he looks to fire Inter Miami to the team´s first MLS Cup.