David Beckham’s Inter Miami CF has made its first two signings in club history.
On Friday, the team acquired two 19-year-olds playing in the Superliga Argentina, left-winger Matias Pellegrini and forward Julian Carranza.
“It’s important for us that we found young, exciting attacking players that are on the upside of their career and have the potential to be really good players in this league,” said Inter Miami sporting director Paul McDonough in a team release. “We will continue to build and add quality players that are the right fit for our Club. We started with youth, but we know it’s also important to have veteran players who come from both overseas and within the league to balance out the roster over time.”
Pellegrini, the first signee, is playing for Estudiantes de La Plata as a Young Designated Player. He will remain on loan with his current club until January 2020.
The left-winger joined the Estudiantes academy when he was 11 years old. He debuted for the club in 2018, scoring three goals across 15 matches.
Pellegrini has represented Argentina on the international stage and made two Copa Libertadores appearances.
Carranza, who will also join Inter Miami CF via transfer, is currently playing for Club Atlatico Banfield and will remain with the club until January 2020.
Carranza joined Banfield’s academy when he was 13 and made his first appearance with the club in 2017. He has scored 10 goals across 30 matches over the course of his two seasons with Banfield.
“Both Julian and Matias showed us they really wanted to take the next step of their career with Inter Miami CF,” McDonough said. “We liked that Pellegrini can play inside and out wide, has very good aerobic capacity and can cover a lot of ground, while Julian is a very grounded player with an impressive work rate. He’s the player that strives to score goals and is very good in the box.”
Fans who want to see these players in action can watch both of them square off on August 4, when Banfield takes on Estudiantes.
The signings are an excellent start for Inter Miami, and signals more names will be announced soon enough.
Inter Miami plans to sign three big names under the Designated Player Rule, aka the Beckham Rule, and have reportedly been in talks with half a dozen players.
“We are in contract negotiations with up to six or seven players, heavily involved in that right now, with all levels of guys,” McDonough told the Miami Herald prior to the signings of Pellegrini and Carranza. “We’d like to have between four and eight signed by September.”
The club has been linked to superstars such as Barcelona striker Luis Suarez and Real Madrid attacking midfielder James Rodríguez.
While Inter Miami continues to sign players and find a coach, Lockhart Park is being transformed into a professional soccer complex.
The team plans to move to a permanent venue at Miami Freedom Park after two years, but the organization will operate and maintain the Fort Lauderdale site throughout its 50-year agreement with the city.
William is the Managing Editor at FloridaInsider.com. His years of experience in journalism, broadcasting and multimedia include roles as a Writer and Web Producer. He graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science and Communication.