Luis Suarez to Miami? David Beckham’s MLS expansion club have reportedly offered ‘lucrative four-year deal’
- Expansion club led by David Beckham’s ownership group have apparently made an offer to the Barcelona and Uruguay striker
- A Miami Herald columnist said he can confirm the rumour is true
Could Luis Suarez be heading to Florida?
Miami Herald columnist Greg Cote has stated he has “been assured by those who would know that Inter Miami is aggressively pursuing the Uruguayan striker from club giant Barcelona”. Cote, a sports columnist for the newspaper, is working off a report out of Barcelona’s Radio Catalunya, where Club de la Mitjanit (Club Midnight) first reported the rumour.
Cote, in a recent piece, said he checked with “our sources” in Miami and could confirm the Major League Soccer club, which is set to debut in 2020, is trying to coax the star to leave the Spanish juggernaut. Inter Miami FC is owned by a David Beckham-led ownership group and Major League Soccer’s website also posted the news, labelling it simply “rumour” at this point.
Suarez, 32, is signed with Barcelona until 2021 but has apparently already kick-started contract negotiations. The striker has been with Barcelona since 2014, and has scored 177 goals in 247 appearances. Before joining Barcelona, Suarez played for Liverpool, scoring 82 goals in 133 appearances, which earned him a massive payday and transfer to the Catalan club.
Suarez also has 55 goals for Uruguay in 106 appearances and is currently preparing for his country’s first Copa America game against Ecuador in Brazil.
He recently had knee surgery but told Marca Barcelona in an interview that the three weeks he missed after going under the knife helped him immensely as he preps for the Copa America. He had the surgery after the Blaugrana’s second-leg defeat by Liverpool in the Champions League.
Beckham and Suarez have apparently formed a “bromance” since meeting in 2018 in Barcelona. Beckham famously came over in 2007 to play in the MLS on a five-year, US$32 million deal. The move, criticised at the time as ill-advised, turned out to be a huge hit for Beckham, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the MLS in general.
However, not everything is going smoothly for the new club as reports are that Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, which is being renovated and upgraded to serve as the team’s temporary home until the massive Miami Park Freedom project is finished in a few years, might not be ready in 2020 by kick-off.
Inter Miami recently submitted a proposed lease agreement and community benefits agreement to the city for Miami Park Freedom.
The area will feature a tech hub, hotel, entertainment district, 58-acre public park with playing fields and green space, along with a 25,000-seat stadium.
The ownership group was awarded the expansion rights in early 2018, and the club represents a massive increase in teams for the league as they will expand to 30 in the coming years and have already added teams in Los Angeles, Minnesota, Atlanta and Cincinnati.
