(CNN) — Fans flocked to the official presentation of Lionel Messi as an Inter Miami player.
They had braved the rain and thunder to get their first glimpse of the Argentinian superstar wearing Inter’s distinctive pink kit.
But as they did so, they thought of Rodolfo Pizarro.
Pizarro, a Mexican international, signed for Inter in 2020, ahead of his team’s inaugural season in Major League Soccer (MLS).
That same year he scored the team’s first goal, with whom he played 58 games, scored seven goals and gave 13 assists throughout his career at Inter.
When Pizarro signed for Inter, he held one of the club’s three “designated player” positions. In MLS, designated players are not subject to the league’s salary cap.
The rule is also known as the “Beckham Rule,” as David Beckham—current co-owner of Inter—became the first designated player when he signed for the LA Galaxy in 2007. The rule allows teams to compete for players outside of the league salary structure and potentially attract stars like Messi.
Thus, with the signing of a contract worth between US$50 and US$60 million per year, the 35-year-old Argentine occupies one of Inter’s designated player positions.
It was on Friday – the day before Messi was officially signed – that Inter announced that Pizarro’s contract had been terminated by mutual consent, thus freeing up a designated player slot.
CNN contacted the club to ask if Pizarro was released primarily to reduce the club’s number of designated players. CNN also contacted Pizarro’s agent.
In a heartfelt farewell message on Instagram, the Mexico international said it had been an honor to play for Inter Miami.
The AEK of Athens, from the Greek first division, announced on Monday the signing of Pizarro, who is reunited with his coach, Matías Almeyda, after having trained the 29-year-old player in the Mexican Chivas. “Very happy to be here, fulfilling a dream,” Pizarro wrote on Instagram.
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Inter also recently announced the signing of Sergio Busquets, Messi’s teammate at Barcelona for many years.
Which means that Inter, according to the club’s website, have four designated players in their squad: Messi, Busquets, Josef Martínez and Gregore.
Inter can transfer one of their designated players or they can “buy” a player’s contract. The club can spend a part of its allocated money to reduce the contract of one of its players, which means that he will no longer be considered a designated player. As the MLS guidelines explain, “a club may drop a player making $700,000 to a $500,000 salary budget charge using $200,000 of general allocation money.”
Inter will be willing to abide by MLS regulations after having fallen for them before.
In 2021, the club was hit with an MLS-record $2 million fine and a $2.2 million penalty for misuse of designated player allocation and violations of the league’s salary budget.
Pizarro is pictured playing for Inter in the MLS game against the Philadelphia Union.
The violations included the incorrect categorization of players Blaise Matuidi and Andrés Reyes, who should have filled a designated player slot, MLS said in its statement.
“The violations also included undisclosed agreements that resulted in the underreporting of salary budget amounts for players Leandro González Pirez, Nicolás Figal and Julián Carranza,” according to MLS.
Inter Miami’s managing owner Jorge Mas was also personally fined $250,000.
“We have worked closely with MLS to address these issues and have made significant changes to our management structure,” Mas said in a statement at the time.
“Following our inaugural season, we took a deep look at our soccer operations leadership group and made decisions that not only strengthened our internal roster compliance measures, but also better positioned us to build a sustainable competition strategy through long term with the hiring of Chris Henderson as Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director in 2021.”
“Inter Miami is an ambitious Club with high aspirations. We believe our fans, market and ownership group drive us to be one of the most followed North American soccer teams in the world. We are committed to supporting our team and building a roster of which we are proud.”
2023-07-18 11:47:00
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