Inter Miami’s confident post-game comments will excite South Florida about playoff push

Pozuelo, who has three assists in his first six matches for Miami, joined via a trade from Toronto FC on July 7. The Spanish midfielder required just $150,000 in General Allocation Money upfront, giving them a Designated Player in the No. 10 spot.

“[Pozuelo’s a] game changer for us, who makes plays, who creates things, who was the best player on the pitch I thought,” Neville said.

Pozuelo, the 2020 Landon Donovan MLS MVP, is playing for a long-term future in Miami. Alongside Brazilian midfielders Jean Mota and Gregore, he’s a written-in-pen starter for the Herons.

“He’s a leader, he’s a winner and he’s here to win,” Neville said. “He’s here to earn a contract, he’s here to earn a contract for next season. What he has done and what made me and [sporting director] Chris [Henderson] really, really, really push for it is that he didn’t demand anything other than just give me these three, four months and you’ll give me a contract at the end of it. Don’t you worry about that, I back myself.”

While Miami are in a decent spot health-wise for the stretch run, more good news may be on the horizon on the injury front. The club’s co-leading goal-scorer Leonardo Campana, who came off after 22 minutes on Aug. 3 at the San Jose Earthquakes thanks to a left quad strain, is “really close” and could return sooner than expected, per Neville. New signing Corentin Jean, who played 10 minutes on July 30 vs. FC Cincinnati, has been out due to an adductor injury but will be back next week.

“We have incredible depth in the squad,” Neville said. “We’re going to need that depth, we’re going to need that freshness, we’re going to need that firepower in the next nine games.”