(Reuters) – Major League Soccer (MLS) has said that Inter Miami’s signing of French World Cup-winning midfielder Blaise Matuidi last year was not in compliance with their roster and budget rules and that the club could face sanctions.
The side co-owned by David Beckham recruited Matuidi on a free transfer after he left Italian champions Juventus in August. The league said last month it would launch a formal review of the deal.
“The league has concluded that Inter Miami was not in compliance with the Roster and Budget Rules during 2020,” MLS said in a statement https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/inter-miami-cf-exercise-offseason-buyout-on-matias-pellegrini on Friday.
It said Matuidi was categorised as a Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) player but his pay was above the limit for TAM players so he should have been classified as a Designated Player. Teams can have up to three such players.
“As a result, Inter Miami violated the Designated Player Limit as the team had three Designated Players in addition to Matuidi during 2020.”
MLS said it was finalising its investigation and would announce the outcome and any sanctions soon.
Matuidi, 34, won three league titles at Juve after signing for the club in 2017. Previously he played for Paris St-Germain where he made more than 200 appearances and won four league titles.
He won the World Cup with France in 2018 in Russia, playing in the final when they beat Croatia 4-2 in Moscow.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
