2025 Awaits Inter Miami: Who's In? Who's Out? And Some Reflection

Look how far the club has come. Eyes towards next season.

photo credit: Inter Miami CF

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Yeah, so that wasn’t great.

Despite having a cracking 2024 that included the Supporters Shield and clinching the MLS all-time points records, Inter Miami had their wings clipped in the MLS Cup playoffs, losing their three-game series to Atlanta.

In short, the team is undoubtedly disappointed. After the match, Jordi Alba spoke about the shock loss:

“We need to analyze everything we did wrong as a team and use it to improve in the future. But it’s clear that for these kinds of games, much more is needed from everyone, and today was unfortunate. I think the team tried, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

“We need to analyze everything we did wrong as a team and use it to improve in the future.”

This quote resonates.

While Miami won’t challenge for MLS Cup this year, 2025 shows promise.

Here me out…

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Attack Attack?

Heading into 2025, Miami will have an open senior DP spot. In layman’s terms, the club can go in a myriad of different ways with that.

1. They could re-sign Luis Suárez under that designation or keep him as a TAM player (in my opinion, TAM is the most likely).

2. Miami could re-unite MSN and sign Neymar. Though Santos will reportedly be pushing hard for his signature.

3. Or, they could go the French midfielder route again and sign Paul Pogba, whose doping suspension was shortened.

But, before they can begin to tinker with an already potent attack, Miami has to address the elephant in the room.

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*Charles Barkley Voice*: We Are Going to Start a Dialogue

I wrote about this recently in a piece for Bleacher Report, but I’ll repost it here on my personal newsletter: Tomas Avilés needs to do better.

“There were multiple times during Miami's series against Atlanta when he failed to pick up his marker, was positionally poor, or made silly decisions.”

Yes, the defense as a whole needs to improve, but I’d like to direct my concerns towards Avilés.

Avilés is one of the most expensive incoming transfers for a center-back in league history. Unfortunately, he doesn’t play like it.

I’m not blaming his performances, entirely, but should Miami want to challenge for MLS Cup next season, Avilés needs to:

A.) Get better

or

B.) Miami should bring in another defender who’s much more consistent.

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A Reflection Checkpoint - to OG Inter Miami Fans

photo credit: Inter Miami CF

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This sect is mainly for the Inter Miami fans who have been there since the beginning.

Comparing where the club is now to where it was back in 2020 is night and day.

While the team has grown in global stardom thanks to Messi and Co, it’s easy to forget where the club and organization came from.

The days of Diego Alonso, Brek Shea bangers (non-derogatory), and Blaise Matuidi in the midfield are long gone. Those nights where, under previous coaches, Miami couldn’t even get the ball out of their half, DPs were underperforming, and stadium tickets were 15 dollars.

Though 2024 ended on a sour note, reflecting on where the club has come from, to where they are now is a feat in itself.

In summation, for fans, this playoff loss stings, but a Supporter Shield and points record is miles better than what you OG fans had to go through from 2020 to 2022.

2025 will certainly be better than that.

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Lastly, if anyone wants to read my thoughts on what went wrong, here’s my latest piece for Bleacher Report detailing five reasons why Miami flopped in the playoffs.

Enjoy!