Is Designated Player-less Inter Miami going to bring Leonardo Campana, Alejandro Pozuelo back in 2023?
Inter Miami will have to decide this offseason whether two of the team's top attackers should return next year
Inter Miami faces some very big roster decisions this offseason. Among them is what to do with talented attackers Leonardo Campana and Alejandro Pozuelo.
Inter Miami is just over a week removed from seeing its successful 2022 campaign come to an end in the playoffs, but already there is an eye towards next year. Head coach Phil Neville and sporting director Chris Henderson are both currently out of contract, but they are working on signing new deals and expected to return in their respective roles in 2023.
If that proves the case, one of the biggest questions the duo will be tasked with answering is how to approach filling Inter Miami’s vacant Designated Player slots. As things stand, the South Florida side has two empty DP spots that can be used as soon as this winter. That number will rise to three if Neville and Henderson find a way to offload Rodolfo Pizarro, who is set to become an Inter Miami player again at the start of 2023 following the conclusion of his year-long loan with Mexican outfit Monterrey.
Resolving Pizarro’s uncertain future is one item on the agenda, but so too is figuring out what to do with Campana and Pozuelo. Those two players made significant contributions in Inter Miami’s surprise run to the playoffs this season, but their returns are not guaranteed. Not as Designated Players, anyway.
Neville even seemed to hint at that after the 3-0 elimination loss to New York City FC.
“We have a big offseason ahead. We have some big important decisions to make,” said the Englishman last week. “…We just need to build on what we have got now and then add in the bits that are going to help us be successful. The bits that help you be successful in this league are DPs, investment in DPs, investment in goals, investment in bringing in the guys that are going to keep scoring goals at the top end.
“I think that is the most important thing. We have proven that we can compete with anyone in this league on any single day and now … I would say that if we added three players of real quality that would make us a real challenger for the top four [places in the Eastern Conference] in my eyes.”
If Inter Miami is looking to “add” players with “real quality”, might Campana and Pozuelo’s days in South Florida be numbered? It is certainly a possibility though also a gamble given there is no guarantee that someone new would come in and produce right away in a league that has its share of challenges.
Still, when you consider the two attackers’ individual situations it is not a foregone conclusion they return next year.
Here is a closer look at Campana and Pozuelo’s statuses heading into the offseason:
Leonard Campana
Age: 22
Status: On loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers (Inter Miami has an option to buy)
2022 MLS stats: 11 goals, 2 assists, 21 starts, 26 appearances
Reported 2022 base salary: $84,000
Campana proved this year that he can make a difference in MLS when he is on the field. The problem is that he struggled to stay on the field.
As has been the case throughout the early parts of his promising career, Campana had his first campaign in South Florida interrupted by multiple notable injuries. The first came in preseason shortly after his arrival to training camp, the second in July, and the third just as the team clinched its playoff berth.
Inter Miami has a buy option in the loan deal that was worked out last winter with English outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers, so Neville and Henderson could trigger that automatically and keep Campana outright if they so chose. What is unknown, however, is what kind of transfer fee was agreed upon between the two sides and whether having to pay that in addition to Campana’s full salary would push the 22-year-old forward into the DP threshold in 2023.
It is possible that Campana could stay classified under Major League Soccer’s U-22 initiative if the budget numbers work out, and that would certainly be ideal for Inter Miami. It would also be very tempting to have a young international striker on the roster who could offer sell-on possibilities later.
That said, if Campana has to be a DP then Inter Miami will have to closely analyze whether it is worth replacing the retired Gonzalo Higuain with a productive but injury-prone player or if it is better to find a No. 9 without a history of health issues elsewhere.
Alejandro Pozuelo
Age: 31
Status: Out of contract
2022 MLS stats: 6 goals, 11 assists, 28 starts, 28 appearances (2 goals, 6 assists, 12 starts, 12 appearances with Inter Miami)
Reported 2022 base salary: $3.8 million
Pozuelo’s midseason arrival via trade from Toronto FC was one of the biggest reasons why Inter Miami surged up the standings and into the playoffs during the second half of the campaign. The Spaniard not only helped free up Higuain — who went on a scoring tear after Pozuelo was added to the roster — but he also contributed two goals and six assists in 12 league games with the Herons.
While Pozuelo can be effective in the final third, the playmaker’s age and salary raise doubt over whether he will be back for a second season with Inter Miami. Not only is he on the wrong side of 30 in a league that remains physically demanding, but Pozuelo made a reported $3.8 million that Inter Miami supposedly paid only a fraction of in 2022.
Bringing him back, even if on a lower figure, would likely require Inter Miami to make Pozuelo a DP again. Only a significant pay cut would put him under that designation, and it would take a heck of a sales pitch from Neville and Henderson — and maybe a little bit of Black Adam-like magic — to convince Pozuelo to accept that when the attacking midfielder could potentially make more in other places like in his native Spain.
Inter Miami may not even really want him back, though. It struck as interesting that Pozuelo had not been signed to a new contract when he landed in South Florida given that his deal was going to expire at the end of the year. In fact, it is plausible that the team’s plan was always to have him as a stop-gap solution for 2022 while looking for a younger No. 10 to build around in 2023 and beyond.
With all that to consider, we ask you: