Inter Miami use ´buy-down´ to afford superstar squad
Inter Miami wasted little time in improving their squad in the off-season, adding two new forwards to Gerado ´Tata´ Martino´s roster. Luis Suárez joins up with his former Barcelona teammates and two-time MLS Cup winner Julian Gressel offers another attacking option. But with Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba also at the club, how can Inter Miami satisfy the league´s stringent salary restrictions? Each MLS club has a maximum of three Designated Player roster spots, with all other players only able to receive a limited salary. Non-DP players have a Maximum Salary Budget Charge of $651,250 per year . However a player´s earnings can be supplemented with up to $1,000,000 from the team´s Allocation Money budgets in a process known as a ´buy- down´. This reduces the team´s ability to strengthen in other areas but allows them to concentrate resources on certain non-DP signings. Who are Inter Miami´s Designated Players? Unsurprisingly, when Lionel Messi arrived in MLS last summ...