MLS Opens Tampering Probe Into Inter Miami Just As Casemiro Deal Is Announced

Inter Miami‘s splashy addition of Brazilian midfielder Casemiro came with an asterisk Wednesday, as Major League Soccer confirmed it is investigating the club over allegations it improperly pursued the player before clearing the necessary league hurdles.

Casemiro, a 34-year-old with 91 caps for Brazil and five Champions League titles won during his years at Real Madrid, became available after Manchester United chose not to extend his contract following four uneven seasons in the Premier League. He’ll now reunite with Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul at Inter Miami, the club co-owned by David Beckham, on a deal reportedly running through the 2027 MLS season with a club option extending it to mid-2029.

The complication stems from MLS’s discovery rights system, a league mechanism that lets clubs claim exclusive negotiating priority over certain players before they become MLS-eligible. Those rights to Casemiro belonged not to Inter Miami but to the LA Galaxy, meaning any direct contact between Miami and the player before securing those rights would have violated league rules. According to a person familiar with the matter, the Galaxy filed a formal tampering complaint with the league once Miami’s interest became public.

The two clubs have since worked out a separate arrangement, agreeing to transfer the discovery priority to Inter Miami along with some form of compensation heading to Los Angeles — reportedly in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars, though the exact figure has not been confirmed. MLS says it won’t release specifics of that settlement until its tampering review wraps up, and the league has otherwise declined to comment further while it gathers information.

It isn’t the first time Inter Miami’s aggressive roster-building has drawn league scrutiny. Back in 2020, the club’s signing of French World Cup winner Blaise Matuidi from Juventus triggered an investigation that ultimately resulted in a $2 million fine for violating salary budget rules — a reminder that South Florida’s ambitions to assemble a marquee roster have repeatedly tested the boundaries MLS sets for how such deals get done.

For now, Casemiro is officially an Inter Miami player, but the club’s path to landing him will remain under the league’s microscope until investigators determine whether the rules were followed.