MLS

Major League Soccer fined Inter Miami CF $2 million for violating the league's salary budget and roster guidelines during the 2020 season.

MLS explained the sanctions in a press release Friday.

The violations included the incorrect roster categorization for players Blaise Matuidi and Andres Reyes who should have occupied a Designated Player slot. The violations also included undisclosed agreements that resulted in the underreporting of salary budget amounts for players Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Nicolas Figal and Julian Carranza.

In addition to the club's fine, managing owner Jorge Mas was fined $250,000.

Paul McDonough, who worked as Inter Miami's COO and sporting director in 2020, was suspended by MLS through the 2022 campaign.

He had joined Atlanta United as its vice president of soccer operations in January, but the club announced that it had mutually agreed to part ways with him following the news of his suspension.

The league also reduced the club's allocation dollars by $2.3 million for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

MLS made clear that other Inter Miami owners Marcelo Claure, Masayoshi Son, Jose Mas and David Beckham did not do anything wrong. That also goes for the team's players, who were not subjects of the investigation. The league reported their contracts were unaffected.

Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald reported that the $2 million fine was a league record. MLS began play in 1996.

Inter Miami finished 2020 with seven wins, 13 losses and three draws, which landed the expansion franchise 10th in the Eastern Conference. It has two wins, three losses and two draws this year.

D.C. United has agreed to terms on a contract with Lucy Rushton to make her the club's new general manager, according to Sportico's Emily Caron and Scott Soshnick. 

Rushton, who has worked as Atlanta United's head of video and technical analysis since 2015, would be the second female general manager in MLS history. Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl explained how she would be the first to handle team-building duties: 

Her hiring would also come on the heels of Kim Ng becoming the first female GM of a major men's professional sports team. The Miami Marlins brought Ng aboard last November.

Prior to Atlanta, Rushton worked in England as Reading's head of technical scouting and as a player recruitment analyst at Watford. She earned a Master's degree in sports performance analysis at University of Wales Institute before going to work for Reading.

Speaking with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Doug Roberson in September 2016, Rushton emphasized how her belief in the value of statistical data wasn't absolute.

"A good balance of the two ultimately helps to generate the full picture and serves to help reduce the risk of making a wrong signing," she said. "In the early stages of the process, however, data can be used to provide some direction to scouting, and/or to highlight some potential targets who may have otherwise gone under the radar."

Jonathan Spector, Atlanta United's head of international player recruitment and development, also spoke highly of her work with the club during a December 2019 interview with The Athletic's Felipe Cardenas.

"But she comes very much from a data background," Spector said. "The work I've seen that she's done so far has been incredibly impressive and helpful and beneficial — trying to narrow down an incredibly vast player pool to choose from."

Rushton would replace Dave Kasper as D.C. United's general manager. Per Sportico, Kasper is taking over as the president of soccer operations.

Together, Rushton and Kasper will look to assemble a roster that can get D.C. United back into the playoffs after missing out in 2020. The club hasn't advanced past the first round of the postseason since 2015, either.