How will Blaise Matuidi fit in and what will he bring to Inter Miami?
At last, Inter Miami has its third and final Designated Player. No, it’s not a flashy number nine or a big name South America, but it’s a position that the team desperately needs. On Monday, August 10th, reports out of Italy and France say that Inter Miami is set to sign Blaise Matuidi as their third DP.
This comes as a bit of a surprise.
Considering the fact that Miami has been linked to the likes of Arturo Vidal, David Silva, and many other high-quality center midfielders, the signing of Blaise Matuidi comes out of the left field. The 33-year-old French international isn’t the star name that many people were expecting to come to Miami, but he fills a need that needed to be fixed.
What will Blaise Matuidi bring to Inter Miami?
3. Defensive and Offensive stability
It has been well documented that Inter Miami has a central midfield issue. Although the midfield pairing of Wil Trapp and Victor Ulloa has been the one constant for Miami, it has also been proven to be the most problematic. Of course, there have been a couple of bright spots for the pairing, take for instance Miami’s goal in the Group A opener against Orlando City:
Juan Agudelo gets the first goal of the #MLSisBack tournament for Inter Miami! pic.twitter.com/ZX6e93fpMT
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 9, 2020
Victor Ulloa makes a great run in the 18-yard box and then has the awareness to pick his head up and pass the ball across the face of goal to a wide-open Juan Agudelo. However, consistent moments like that for both Trapp and Ulloa come few and far between.
With the addition of Blaise Matuidi, this will see a lot more runs like that being made from midfield that will hopefully free up players like Rodolfo Pizarro, Lewis Morgan, and Matias Pellegrini to finish their chances comfortably.
Matuidi is especially adept at sucking in the defense and creating open pockets of space where more creative players (like Pizarro and Morgan) are able to do more damage in the final third. The French International will also tirelessly run his legs off.
He’s great at pressing the ball and being positionally aware of where his opponent is in order to cut off passing lanes with the hope of winning the ball back to start a counter-attack. Under Diego Alonso, Matuidi will excel in the Uruguyan’s counter-pressing system. It’s only a matter a time until Miami’s midfield sees improvement.