Leandro Paredes has chosen Boca Juniors over a reunion with Lionel Messi, closing the door — at least for now — on what would have been one of the more compelling midfield additions in Inter Miami's short history. The Argentine international, who shares a deep bond with Messi through years together with the national team, elected to stay in Buenos Aires rather than make the move to MLS.
For Inter Miami, the rejection stings more than most. The club has built its identity around Messi and the Argentine connection, and Paredes — a composed, technically gifted central midfielder with Champions League pedigree from his time at Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus — would have addressed one of the team's persistent structural weaknesses: controlling games from the middle of the park. Paredes does not run past defenders. He dictates tempo, recycles possession and protects the back line. Exactly what a Messi-led team needs when the superstar himself is not creating.
Miami's midfield has been adequate at times and leaky at others in 2024. The team carries real attacking firepower, but opponents who press aggressively have found ways to disrupt their rhythm precisely because no one in that engine room demands the ball with authority and makes the simple pass look inevitable. Paredes, at his best, does exactly that.
Instead, Paredes remains at Boca Juniors, the club where Argentine football careers often begin and, increasingly, where they come full circle. His decision reflects a broader trend of elite South American players prioritizing homecoming over late-career MLS money — a choice that is entirely legitimate, even if it leaves one of the league's flagship franchises searching elsewhere.
For the Eastern Conference standings, the implications are real. Inter Miami has the individual talent to paper over midfield deficiencies in the regular season, but playoff football — tighter, more physical, less forgiving — exposes roster gaps with ruthless efficiency. A player of Paredes' caliber would have raised the ceiling of what this team can realistically achieve in a deep postseason run.
Miami will now look elsewhere to fortify that position, and the market for genuinely elite holding or box-to-box midfielders who are both willing and available in MLS windows is never as deep as sporting directors would like. Paredes was a specific solution to a specific problem. Finding a comparable alternative before the window closes will test the front office's resourcefulness in ways that writing a large check alone cannot solve.