As if releasing the team’s first third kit wasn’t enough to excite Herons fans, now Inter Miami wants to sign Argentine World Cup winner Angel Di Maria.
The Ft. Lauderdale-based team is negotiating with the right winger to join the Herons in July. A signature like that, reuniting Di Maria with compatriot Lionel Messi, would be icing on the cake for Beckham’s team. Inter Miami sits first in the MLS Eastern Conference.
Di Maria would be a welcome addition to Miami, especially Messi, who’s been reunited with a string of players at his new club. Luis Suarez is the latest ex-teammate to reunite with Messi in Florida, following in the footsteps of that Blaugrana connection with Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
The 36-year-old Di Maria is in his last season with Portuguese side Benfica and will be a free agent later this month. Journalist Leonardo Paradizo broke the news in an interview with ESPN F12 earlier today.
“Di Maria’s talks with Inter Miami have already begun and he is seriously evaluating the possibility of going to play with Messi starting in July,” Paradizo said. The two friends also won an Olympic Gold and Copa America together. Joining Inter Miami would mark the first team Di Maria played with Messi at club level.
If so, Di Maria would constitute Inter Miami’s fourth former Messi-ex teammate. However, Miami has maxed out its allowed Designated Player spots, so co-owner David Beckham must devise creative ways to work around the MLS salary cap.
“Without a doubt, for me, he is the greatest in history,” Di Maria said about Messi after the two won the elusive World Cup in 2022. “For me, playing with you on a team is what I wanted, man. And winning it, winning this trophy with you. It became more about him than about me. I wanted to win the World Cup for him.”
Is the 2024 MLS Cup loading for Inter Miami this season?
