Designated player spots will be opening up in Florida as Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba prepare to retire, meaning that another Barcelona legend could be acquired. Inter Miami would, however, be taking a serious punt on Neymar.
Asked how big that gamble would be and where value can be found, Friedel – speaking in association with Hard Rock Bet – told GOAL: “I think it would be a risk on anyone’s behalf; I think it just depends on how you would structure the contract. You also have to weigh the pros and cons — when you sign legends of the game like Neymar, you also have to take into account the commercial opportunities that go with it, and it coincides nearly every time with the salary and wage packet that you are going to give.
“You are going to make a substantial amount of money off the field when you bring someone like that in. I think there is probably more of a sporting risk than a commercial risk — or equally so if he does get injured. But if he doesn’t get injured, the risk becomes his age and the injuries he has had, and whether he can be that player [they need].
“The plus side is, it is a league that is a step down from where he is playing. Lionel Messi is the greatest of all time, but he can play many more years in MLS. It is a league that will allow players to do that, so I think Inter Miami need to weigh the pros and cons of what they can earn off the field and try to get it correct.
“If they can structure the contract correctly, then it limits the risk. Having Neymar alongside Messi again — I am not sure. We will wait and see, but the league needs to do something commercially.
“The TV contract needs to be bigger within the MLS to make sure the league can be profitable, because the way it is set up, it is not. Bringing in the likes of Thomas Muller at Vancouver — look at what it has done for them. Again, I don’t know if it has impacted them commercially in a positive way, but the MLS has to do something, and Neymar would be another step in the right direction.”