Kevin De Bruyne could become Lionel Messi’s teammate at Inter Miami – but he would need to take huge paycut

Kevin De Bruyne could become Inter Miami’s next star signing – but he would need to take a £20million hit on his salary, talkSPORT understands. The 33-year-old is set to become a free agent in the summer with the Manchester City skipper to depart after ten trophy-laden seasons. De Bruyne will leave City this summer when his contract expiresGetty De Bruyne is one of six marquee players being lined up by Saudi Pro League chiefs, while he is also on the radar of MLS clubs. Inter Miami are one of those teams, where they would be willing to add De Bruyne to a squad consisting of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. As it stands, Miami hold the discovery rights to De Bruyne, meaning they are free to negotiate terms with the Belgian before any other side. However, there is no room for De Bruyne to be listed as a Designated Player [DP] at Miami, with the three slots going to Messi, Busquets and Alba. A DP allows a player to earn considerably more than the average MLS player – a rule brought in following David Beckham‘s move to LA Galaxy in 2007. Miami, who now count Beckham as one of their co-owners, will therefore only be allowed to pay De Bruyne around £550,000. To put that into perspective, De Bruyne banks £400k-a-week at City, which works out to an eye-watering £20.8m-per-year. talkSPORT understands that the former Chelsea midfielder would be seeking a yearly salary in the region of £11.8m at Miami – still a hefty pay cut reduction from what he is currently on in England. Should Miami manage to convince De Bruyne to join their project, they would need to renegotiate his salary in his second year. This would see them, in effect, overpay the six-time Premier League champion to compensate him being underpaid in his first campaign in the Magic City. Messi could count De Bruyne as a teammate of his later this yearGetty The Belgian’s trophy-laden ten-year spell at the Etihad is soon coming to an end It’s the same scenario as when Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined LA Galaxy in 2018 after he mutually agreed to terminate his contract at Manchester United. At the time, the Swedish icon was on a salary worth around £19m-a-year at Old Trafford, but as he joined in March – two games into the MLS season – all the DP slots had been filled. It saw Ibrahimovic take a huge pay cut to around £1.1m-a-year, before he became a DP the following campaign. Should De Bruyne be unwilling to make the move to Miami, they could sell their discovery rights on the player to an MLS rival. It’s what they did in 2022, when Los Angeles FC paid £59k for the rights to speak to Gareth Bale. As it stands, 19 MLS clubs do not have three DP players on their roster, with Real Salt Lake and CF Montreal only having one each. For De Bruyne though, his immediate focus will be on finishing the season strong for City in what has been a challenging term for Pep Guardiola‘s men. Having won four top-flight titles in a row, there is a danger the Citizens could finish outside of the top four with the club currently languishing in sixth spot with seven matches to go. Though De Bruyne could end the season with major silverware, with City one of four teams left in the FA Cup. And it remains to be seen whether he will be involved in the Club World Cup this summer, with his contract to expire during the knockout stage.

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Kevin De Bruyne could become Lionel Messi’s teammate at Inter Miami – but he would need to take huge paycut

Kevin De Bruyne could become Inter Miami’s next star signing – but he would need to take a £20million hit on his salary, talkSPORT understands.

The 33-year-old is set to become a free agent in the summer with the Manchester City skipper to depart after ten trophy-laden seasons.

De Bruyne will leave City this summer when his contract expires

De Bruyne is one of six marquee players being lined up by Saudi Pro League chiefs, while he is also on the radar of MLS clubs.

Inter Miami are one of those teams, where they would be willing to add De Bruyne to a squad consisting of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

As it stands, Miami hold the discovery rights to De Bruyne, meaning they are free to negotiate terms with the Belgian before any other side.

However, there is no room for De Bruyne to be listed as a Designated Player [DP] at Miami, with the three slots going to Messi, Busquets and Alba.

A DP allows a player to earn considerably more than the average MLS player – a rule brought in following David Beckham‘s move to LA Galaxy in 2007.

Miami, who now count Beckham as one of their co-owners, will therefore only be allowed to pay De Bruyne around £550,000.

To put that into perspective, De Bruyne banks £400k-a-week at City, which works out to an eye-watering £20.8m-per-year.

talkSPORT understands that the former Chelsea midfielder would be seeking a yearly salary in the region of £11.8m at Miami – still a hefty pay cut reduction from what he is currently on in England.

Should Miami manage to convince De Bruyne to join their project, they would need to renegotiate his salary in his second year.

This would see them, in effect, overpay the six-time Premier League champion to compensate him being underpaid in his first campaign in the Magic City.

Messi could count De Bruyne as a teammate of his later this year

The Belgian’s trophy-laden ten-year spell at the Etihad is soon coming to an end

It’s the same scenario as when Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined LA Galaxy in 2018 after he mutually agreed to terminate his contract at Manchester United.

At the time, the Swedish icon was on a salary worth around £19m-a-year at Old Trafford, but as he joined in March – two games into the MLS season – all the DP slots had been filled.

It saw Ibrahimovic take a huge pay cut to around £1.1m-a-year, before he became a DP the following campaign.

Should De Bruyne be unwilling to make the move to Miami, they could sell their discovery rights on the player to an MLS rival.

It’s what they did in 2022, when Los Angeles FC paid £59k for the rights to speak to Gareth Bale.

As it stands, 19 MLS clubs do not have three DP players on their roster, with Real Salt Lake and CF Montreal only having one each.

For De Bruyne though, his immediate focus will be on finishing the season strong for City in what has been a challenging term for Pep Guardiola‘s men.

Having won four top-flight titles in a row, there is a danger the Citizens could finish outside of the top four with the club currently languishing in sixth spot with seven matches to go.

Though De Bruyne could end the season with major silverware, with City one of four teams left in the FA Cup.

And it remains to be seen whether he will be involved in the Club World Cup this summer, with his contract to expire during the knockout stage.