Inter Miami talks progressing with Busquets, Martino; Suarez, Di Maria not imminent

For all the talk about Messi “and friends,” coming to Miami, at this point only one player can be considered likely to follow Messi to South Flordia: His longtime Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets. Sources involved in discussions say a deal for the midfielder is not yet done, however.

Miami has been working on a potential Busquets deal for months as they hoped Messi would choose to sign with the club. Notably, the club left the No. 10 and No. 5 jerseys open this winter; Messi prefers the No. 10 shirt, Busquets the No. 5.

The initial hope was that Busquets joining Inter might actually be an incentive for Messi to come to MLS. Now, Messi has committed before any deal is done with Busquets, and the midfielder has a number of big-money offers on the table that are impacting negotiations.

Sources briefed on talks said they believe Miami hopes to sign Busquets to a contract of $1.65 million or less and thus won’t require using one of the club’s three designated player (DP) slots. But Miami has multiple avenues to open up DP slots if they need to use one on Busquets. The club has its one-time contract buyout, can transfer or trade another player out, or use salary cap mechanisms to move one DP off the designation. More detailed information on that here.

It should be noted that teams around MLS won’t be thrilled if Busquets arrives as a non-DP. He is reported to have made $26.3 million per year with Barcelona and, as noted above, certainly still has options to make well north of $2 million per year, even at his age.

Busquets, who turns 35 this summer, started 28 La Liga matches for Barcelona this season and all four World Cup matches for Spain.

Busquets is yet to announce where he’ll continue his career after leaving Barcelona. He told The Guardian “I don’t want to play for any European team: it would be hard to face Barcelona with anything serious in play.” Busquets said in the same interview that nothing was decided or done yet.

Luis Suarez, Angel di Maria are not imminent

While talks for Busquets are relatively far along, Miami’s rumored potential additions of Luis Suarez and Angel di Maria are much murkier.

Suarez is under contract at Brazilian club Gremio through the 2024 season. One source directly involved in talks said there has been no contact between Miami and Gremio and there are “zero possibilities” for a negotiation. Another said Suarez is interested in joining Miami, but his contract status makes any move complicated.

Suarez, 36, has 11 goals and eight assists in 24 appearances (2,100 minutes) with Gremio and the club has no intention of losing him.

The player himself has also publicly shut down the rumors.

“This is false, it is impossible,” Suarez told Referi. “I am very happy at Gremio and I have a contract until 2024.”

Suarez has also been quoted as saying he and Messi “hope to spend the last days of our career in the same club. Purely enjoy the joy of football and play football as we like and retire together. I don’t know about Neymar, but Messi and I will definitely be there together.”

Di Maria is a free agent, and while there has been preliminary interest and contact, there have been no advanced discussions between the player and Miami, sources involved in discussions say. Sources close to the winger have denied for months that a move to MLS was under consideration, even as recently as a month ago, but Messi’s decision has changed the outlook. Still, there is a long way from preliminary interest to even exploratory contract talks.

Both Di Maria and Suarez would almost certainly require salaries above $1.65 million and thus the use of Miami’s other two DP spots, making the salary cap gymnastics more difficult for the front office. Whether or not it’s something Miami would want to lock themselves into remains to be seen as well. Messi, di Maria and Suarez together would easily be the oldest trio of DPs in MLS, with an average age of nearly 36 years. The average age of incoming DPs in 2023 is just over 26 years old.

A lot of these decisions are fluid as they will be made in conjunction with a new manager. Miami currently has former Real Salt Lake star Javier Morales as interim head coach after firing Phil Neville on June 1.

Tata Martino as manager?

Talks between Inter Miami and former Argentina and Barcelona manager Tata Martino are progressing. Sources involved in discussions say both parties are aligned in the direction they want to take the sporting project, but no deal has been finalized.

Martino is not the only candidate under consideration, according to multiple sources involved in the coaching hire.

Martino is the rare blend of a big-name coach who has experience with and appreciates the idiosyncrasies of this league. He was the inaugural Atlanta United manager, helping build the squad and win MLS Cup in its second season before he left and became Mexico national team manager. Crucially he added important squad players in Atlanta via his knowledge of the domestic markets in South America, including Yamil Asad, Carlos Carmona and Franco Escobar. He has been without a job since the expiration of his contract with Mexico after the 2022 World Cup.

Earlier in his career, Martino managed Messi both with the Argentina national team and Barcelona.

– Felipe Cardenas contributed to this report

(Photo: Pedro Salado/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)