Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez will not be joined by Neymar at Inter Miami, with manager Javier Mascherano claiming it would be "impossible" for the MLS side to sign the Brazilian.
Mascherano, who played with the trio at Barcelona towards the end of his career and became the Inter Miami manager at the end of 2024, highlighted that financial issues will simply stop any move from happening.
That's despite Neymar alluding to a reunion with Messi and Suarez, highlighting that while he is currently "happy" with Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, a move certainly isn't beyond the realms of possibility.
Messi and Neymar playing together at Inter Miami is 'impossible'
“Obviously, playing again with (Lionel) Messi and (Luis) Suarez would be incredible,” Neymar told CNN. “They are my friends. We still speak to each other. It would be interesting to revive this trio."
Mascherano, though, downplayed any transfer links with the Brazilian.
“We cannot talk about Ney because we have nothing,” Mascherano said, as per Reuters. “Obviously Ney is a great player. Every coach in the world wants him but at the moment, but you know the MLS rules around the salary cap. So for us in this moment, it’s impossible to try to think about him.”
Each team in MLS is allowed to have three Designated Players, whereby sides are allowed to pay three stars above the salary threshold of $683,750.
At the start of 2024, Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Leonardo Campana were Inter Miami's three Designated Players, meaning Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez both earned below the salary cap enforced on teams.
But while Campana has since departed for New England Revolution, it doesn't seem like another Designated Player slot will open up in Inter Miami's roster.
Instead, the side owned by David Beckham looks to have chosen the U22 Initiative Player Model, whereby clubs can use up to two Designated Player roster slots, up to four U22 Initiative roster slots and an additional $2 million in General Allocation Money (GAM. The Designated Player Model allows just three Designated Player slots and three U22 Initiative roster slots.
As Mascherano therefore highlights, keeping Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez at the club, while also complying with MLS salary cap rules, signing Neymar simply isn't feasible.
In FourFourTwo's view, it's certainly a shame that Messi and Neymar can't play together - for the time being - at Inter Miami, though that's not to say something can't happen in the future.
