Could Edinson Cavani play for Inter Miami? It’s possible, and here’s why.
Another week, another soccer star linked to Inter Miami. The latest one — prolific Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani — would join the team in June 2020 after his contract expires with Paris Saint Germain, according to Fox Deportes analyst Alvaro Izquierdo, whose Tweet on the news went viral Monday morning.
“This really would be a bombshell in MLS,” wrote Izquierdo, a Uruguayan former soccer player.
Cavani, 32, is the leading scorer in PSG history with 194 goals in 281 games with the French club. He joined PSG from Napoli in the summer of 2013 for a then-club record $76 million and played alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who now makes headlines with MLS team Los Angeles Galaxy. Cavani has won five Ligue 1 championships with PSG and was named the league’s Player of the Year in 2016-17.
Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham played for PSG and has a good relationship with the club.
Cavani has scored 48 goals in 114 games for the Uruguayan national team over the past 11 years, and played in the past three World Cups. He plays center forward and is known as a lethal finisher who scores spectacular goals on the ground and in the air.
Inter Miami officials would not confirm or deny whether the club has been in talks with Cavani. Other players who reportedly have had contact with Inter Miami include James Rodriguez, Radamel Falcao, and Luis Suarez.
Beckham, co-owner Jorge Mas, and sporting director Paul McDonough have said the team will carry three Designated Players (whose salaries can exceed the league cap). So far, they have signed one — Argentine 19-year-old Matias Pellegrini, who is classified as a “Young Designated Player,” meaning only $150,000 of his salary counts against the cap.
Julian Carranza, another 19-year-old Argentine, signed with the team, as did Christian Makoun, captain of Venezuela’s U20 team. Makoun spent last season on loan in Italy with the Juventus U19 team, but Juventus decided not to exercise its option to sign him to a contract. Real Madrid and Arsenal had shown interest in Makoun last year, and Atletico Madrid was in talks with him this summer.
It is still being decided where he will play through the end of the year, as he wouldn’t join Inter Miami until training camp in January 2020.
The coaching search continues, and Mas said he’d like to have the coach in place by the end of August. He said it would be “somebody you know who has played and coached at the highest level.”
One candidate who fits that description is former PSG coach Laurent Blanc, who played on the French 1998 World Cup champion team, and played for Napoli, Barcelona, Marseille, Inter Milan and Manchester United. Cavani played for Blanc at PSG.
Other possible candidates include former English Premier League coach David Moyes, who owns a condo in Naples and frequently visits with his wife; Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti, who is a friend and former coach of Beckham’s and didn’t dismiss the idea of coaching Inter Miami when asked last week while at Hard Rock Stadium for a game against FC Barcelona; former AC Milan coach Gennaro “Rino” Gattuso; former Juventus coach Max Allegri; former Real Madrid coach Santiago Solari; former French star Theirry Henry, who has played in Europe and MLS; and former U.S. national coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
This story was originally published August 12, 2019 at 1:35 PM.