With Inter Miami CF among the clubs returning to individual workouts on Wednesday, sporting director Paul McDonough joined reporters on a conference call to discuss the latest developments. But as always seems to happen with the expansion club co-owned by global soccer icon David Beckham, the focus soon shifted to players who might yet join Miami whenever the transfer window opens again.
McDonough said his club's priorities generally remain unchanged, while acknowledging not every club is so lucky. And the end result is that Miami might have more inventory to choose from.
"We’ve always said we wanted to try to sign two more players this year," McDonough said during Wednesday's call with reporters. "And like I said earlier, we’re constantly looking at players and trying to gauge the market and see what comes available. There’s certainly more players available now than were available prior to the leagues shutting down, and a lot of those availabilities are due to financial stress that the clubs are under."
As for links to world-famous stars like Arturo Vidal and Gareth Bale? McDonough termed them as "rumors" and offered no further specific comment. And while he didn't explicitly deny anything, he maintained that the club roster is close to a finished product.
"It’s great that a lot of people are linked to Miami, but we’re just looking for the right couple of pieces here to finish it off," McDonough said.
Even with plenty of options, when those deals might happen is anyone's guess. The MLS Primary Transfer Window is currently paused, with lost days added once the league deems it safe to resume business. It was originally scheduled to close on May 5, with the MLS Secondary Transfer Window opening on July 7.
What McDonough believes is more certain is that when business returns, the cost of doing it will change.
"I think all clubs have suffered significant losses. In certain parts of the world the losses are more significant," McDonough said. "So I think it’s going to be very, very interesting. I think there will be a transfer market, but I think the transfer valuations on players will probably change going forward."
