Major League Soccer (MLS) to investigate Inter Miami's alleged tampering of rules over the signing of Brazil international defensive midfielder Casemiro..

Major League Soccer (MLS) announced in an official statement Sunday that it has launched an investigation into Inter Miami's alleged tampering of rules over the signing of Brazil international defensive midfielder Casemiro.

According to the MLS's statement, the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee has begun gathering evidence to investigate allegations that Inter Miami has tmapred the rules to sign Casemiro.

During the investigation, the former Real Madrid and Manchester United player is still eligible to play for Inter Miami. The actual fee that the club will need be fine and compensate will be determined based on the investigation's outcome.

According to a report from The Athletic, to prevent malicious bidding wars and offers among MLS clubs for big-name players, a league rule requires all clubs to successfully apply for "Discovery Rights" before approaching any potential targets.

"Discovery Rights" are only opened to other clubs if a club that has successfully applied for and obtained them fails to reach a transfer agreement with the potential target.

If a potential target is signed by another club in the league during the process, both clubs must first notify the league to obtain its approval, and the transfer is only legal after compensation is paid. However, Casemiro's transfer was not completed under these conditions.

The club that had initially successfully applied for and obtained "Discovery Rights" to approach the player was the Los Angeles Galaxy. However, Inter Miami suddenly intervened, reached a private agreement with the Galaxy, and only reported to the league after signing Casemiro.

Furthermore, this is not the only violation Inter Miami has been involved in. In 2021, the team's Chief Financial Officer and Sporting Director, Paul McDonough, was also temporarily suspended for financial report tampering and violating salary cap rules.

In addition to salary cap violations, Inter Miami has also been involved in violations of the Designated Players (DP) rules for many years.

Several transfers by the team have been suspected of involving payments to DP players that were several times higher than the salary cap limit. The most well-known and confirmed case involves former Paris Saint-Germain and France legendary international defensive midfielder Blaise Matuidi.

Matuidi's actual salary and bonuses while playing for Inter Miami exceeded the club's declared and the league's allowed DP player salary cap limit by $2 million.

Furthermore, the club's ability to dramatically acquire legendary international players with immense European and global recognition, such as Matuidi, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busque, Rodrigo De Paul, and Sergio Reguilón, has also been questioned as an abuse of DP registration slots.

Furthermore, Inter Miami, who owned its numerous South American youngsters, has been accused of hoarding as many foreign players as possible, thereby hindering the promotion of homegrown American players from the reserve team and youth academy to the first-team.

Finally, the report also pointed out that Inter Miami's repeated refusal to allow Messi and Suarez to participate in friendly matches and the MLS All-Star Game under the pretext of "protecting team assets" has drawn severe criticism and damaged the league's reputation, further fueling suspicions of the team understating its actual financial revenue.

Regardless, The Athletic also urged readers not to conclude at this time that Inter Miami will definitely face severe sanctions from the league.

Using the recently concluded FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico as an example, journalist noted that the sudden intervention of FIFA and the US government in this matter could not be ignored, which would make the situation even more controversial and embarrassing.

Image source: Internet / The Athletic