Inter Miami CF Announce End Of Season Roster Moves

A few days ago, Inter Miami CF announced their end of season roster moves looking ahead to the 2024 season. After a year in which the club saw the arrival of 8x Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, & Jordi Alba… the club has set themselves up for an excellent year next year. But let’s take a dive into their decisions into the start of their 2024 roster build:

The club decided to exercise their club options on; Robert Taylor, Robbie Robinson, Lawson Sunderland, Ian Fray, Ryan Sailor, and Cole Jensen. The more notable names here are Robert Taylor and Robbie Robinson. The 29 year old Finland international winger Robert Taylor will return to an attack in which he contributed 8 goals and 11 assists across all competitions. The 24 year old (former #1 overall SuperDraft pick) Robbie Robinson had a goal and an assist in roughly 450 minutes last season. After a long term injury, you could see Tata Martino’s confidence in the American attacker down the stretch. I expect major minutes to be played across all competitions next season for these two. Adding to this list, I have my eyes on the versatile Ian Fray. The 21 year old Fray can play some centerback and defensive midfield, and had some very strong showings this season before getting injured. Inter Miami CF are going to have to rely upon their youth to help eat up some minutes around their older stars of Messi, Busquets, and Alba. Players like Fray are going to play into the success of Miami in 2024.

Lionel Messi

Miami decided to decline the player options of Josef Martinez and Jake LaCava. LaCava was on loan within the USL Championship for most of 2023, not really playing that much of a factor here for 2024. But Josef Martinez was the shocking name to have on the list. The former Atlanta United star signed with Miami this past off-season with the hopes to revitalize his MLS career after moving on from his former home. Josef didn’t seem to 100% find that old form as the Venezuela international scored 12 goals and had 3 assists across 40 games in 2023. 15 goals contributed to is nice, but with money being spent across the striker position with Leo Campana, Nicolas Stefanelli, and Corentin Jean… Josef seemed to just take too much of the pie to keep for next season. 

The club also had defensive midfielders Dixon Arroyo and Victor Ulloa out of contract after this season. The club has announced that they are going to let their longest tenured player, Ulloa, leave after this season. Ulloa will finish his Inter Miami CF career with 82 games played and 6 assists. The club did let the public know that they are in ongoing conversations with Dixon Arroyo. The 31 year old Arroyo did a good job in 2023 stepping in for Gregore who was injured for most of the 2023 season. He could be a decent piece to keep on this roster for the right price. Miami will be playing a ton of games in 2024 between MLS, Open Cup, CONCACAF Cup, and Leagues Cup… all the legs they can get they should keep. But, I am not sold on keeping him, especially with the defensive midfield depth they have on the roster with; Busquets, Gregore, and David Ruiz. 

Josef Martinez

Lastly, the case of Leandro Gonzalez Pirez. The club has an option on the former MLS Cup Champion centerback but have announced that they are in ongoing conversations with him. “LGP” was on loan in Argentina this past season with South American giants River Plate. There is a world where I could see him being a much needed boost to this club’s backline, but similar to Arroyo, it all comes down to price. He is the most interesting player here that I am keeping an eye on, especially because River Plate has the option to purchase him out of his deal with Miami. A similar case is ongoing with winger Emerson Rodriguez. The 23 year old Rodriguez has been on loan this season within Liga MX where he hasn’t played the best. He would be returning to this roster in 2024, but the pain here is as a U22 Initiative player. The club would then have 4 U22 Initiative players, needing to move on from one. 

Robert Taylor

It will be interesting to keep an eye on what this Inter Miami front office does to follow up their past summer. Being led by Chris Henderson and having the likes of Messi on their roster… I expect nothing but big things from this organization.