3 reasons Di Maria makes more sense than De Bruyne for Inter Miami | OneFootball

The soccer world has been salivating for the last 48 hours or so about the possibility of Kevin De Bruyne joining Lionel Messi at Inter Miami.

Only last week, De Bruyne announced he would be departing Manchester City at the end of the current season. And by Monday, there were reports that Inter Miami had already offered the Belgian star a contract, even though it would take some significant roster manouvering to add the star to the Herons squad within current MLS roster rules.

The news went against most conventional thought that De Bruyne would be interested in a move to MLS, but at a club that had a Designated Player roster spot currently open. And Miami had been linked for far longer with Messi's Argentina and former Paris-St. Germain teammate Angel Di Maria as a potential summer signing.

Sespite all the hype over a potential De Bruyne-Messi fusion, don't be surprised if in the end it's only Di Maria who joins the Herons. Because his addition makes considerably more sense for Miami's overall team needs than De Bruyne.

Here's 3 reasons why:

Cost

De Bruyne may be on the downside of his career, but as the leading creative midfielder of a team that won four consecutive Premier League titles, his contract demands could be exponnentially larger than Di Maria's might be.

According to Transfermarkt, De Bruyne's transfer value is about nine times that of Di Maria's, at roughly $30 million against $3.3 million. His reported annual salary in his final year at City is $26.67 million, against Di Maria's reported anual earnings of $4.2 million at Benfica.

And while De Bruyne might be worth that difference as a player, there's also the matter of roster rule manipulation. It's impossible to imagine De Bruyne's contract with Miami coming down to a point where it could fall under anything other than a Designated Player spot. And currently, Miami have no such spots available.

Di Maria, on the other hand, could conceivably be bought down into a lesser category using General Allocation Money. As of early March, Miami had more than $3 million of Genderal Allocation Money in reserve, and it could also acquire more by trading other players.

Culture

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From the moment Messi arrived at Inter Miami, the club around him as been built entirely in his image. It's secondary stars are all former club teammates. The supplemental pieces are mostly Spanish speakers from South America, who have been receptive to an MLS move in part because of the chance to play with the world's greatest living player.

De Bruyne is the first player seriously connected to Miami who could truly disturb that balance, between his own stature, the potential language barrier, and his lack of experience playing alongside any of Miami's other former FC Barcelona stars.

This doesn't mean it would be impossible for De Bruyne to assimilate at Inter Miami. But there is much more potential for things to go wrong than with Di Maria, who already knows Messi very well and will be able to easily communicate with the rest of his potential new teammates.

Compatibility

From a tactical perspective, it's considerably easier to put Di Maria on the field next to Messi and Suarez and maintain field balance.

While De Bruyne has played primarily as a central midfielder, and Di Maria and Messi have both played as wide midfielders, it's Messi and De Bruyne who more often want to occupy the same space on the field. Di Maria is far more comfortable playing wide and staying wide.

At age 37, Di Maria may not be covering the defensive ground he used to. Even so, he could still fit far more comfortably on one flank of the 4-4-2 Miami has often played when Messi and Suarez are on the field together, rather than having to entirely rework the shape. Including De Bruyne in an XI with Messi and Suarez would probably require a much larger tactical overhaul.