As Inter Miami contends with Matuidi-gate sanctions, rebuilding looks like a long-term project

Chris Henderson has compared the rebuilding job he is doing as sporting director of Inter Miami CF to that of the expansion season he experienced with the Seattle Sounders in 2009. Yet that’s arguably an understatement considering just how onerous his current task is.

With Seattle more than a decade ago, Henderson, owner/GM Adrian Hanauer and then-manager Sigi Schmid were simply building, benefiting from having a blank canvas as a brand-new team. Now, in South Florida, the former United States international isn’t just remodeling, but razing some portions of the troubled team to the ground. Ahead of this season, he engaged in 30 transactions, not including three Miami free agents who were re-signed. The Herons shed some big names as well, including Rodolfo Pizarro, who was loaned to Monterrey, and Blaise Matuidi, who is now a club ambassador. Experienced players like Leandro Gonzalez Pirez and Lewis Morgan were also shipped out.

If there is pain associated with so much roster turnover, much of it is self-inflicted, taking place against the backdrop of the sanctions MLS imposed on Miami when it emerged that the organization had flouted the league’s roster rules during its inaugural campaign in 2020. The contracts of Matuidi and Andres Reyes meant they should have been classified as Designated Players, giving Miami two more DPs than the three allowed per league rules. Additionally, the compensation paid to Gonzalez Pirez, Nicolas Figal and Julian Carranza was underreported.

When the news broke last May, MLS fined Miami $2.27 million in allocation money, spread over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, among other penalties. Neither Henderson nor the league would indicate just how much of the hit Miami is incurring on its salary budget this season.

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“We’re waiting still to hear from the league as to how those are spread out,” Henderson told ESPN before…