Inter Miami Continues to Develop Young Talent

By Inter Miami CF

July 30^th, 2020

“The proudest moment will be when we see our homegrown talent step out onto the field,” said co-owner and and President of Soccer Operations David Beckham in December.

Inter Miami Continues to Develop Young Talent

Upon the launch of Inter Miami CF, the ownership group, including Jorge Mas and Beckham, made it clear that one of the pillars of the Club would be its Academy, emphasizing the importance of developing South Florida’s young talent. Now, the Inter Miami CF Academy Presented by Baptist Health South Florida is approaching the first anniversary of its first competitive match and is already delivering on its promise.

Under the leadership of Sporting Director and COO Paul McDonough, Senior Academy Director Jason Kreis has captained the ship through the first year and has now taken over as Manager of Fort Lauderdale CF, the Club’s USL League One affiliate. The structure has allowed him to oversee the progress of the Academy to professional pipeline the Club is building, beginning with the ID sessions back in April 2019; the Club scouted over 6,000 players from the area, inviting 1,200 for ID sessions before eventually settling on the inaugural class of Inter Miami CF Academy players.

“The progress has been really, really big. To see that and be a part of putting the group together just by looking at individual players over ID sessions a year and a half ago or so, to having an idea what those groups might look like when they’re put together, to seeing them together in the first few months of the Club, to how they progressed over the fall, we can all say we made some really positive steps,” said Kreis. “I feel like we took steps forward and now we’re ready to take another one.”

Two players scouted at the ID sessions, Miles Perkovich and Fernando Sanchez, were surprised with a call from David Beckham welcoming them to the Club.

Between the state-of-the-art Inter Miami CF Training Center and professional coaching, the players have access to the tools necessary for the Club to achieve its goal of developing South Florida’s elite youth talent.

“The infrastructure here, the facilities are second to none. To have it and know the Academy is going to be training here every single day is absolutely fantastic,” added Kreis. “We have some really nice coaches to work with these players and help them develop. All of them are super eager to get to work with the kids again and they all have a lot to offer.”

With Fort Lauderdale CF, Kreis feels the Club has bridged the gap in competition necessary to streamline a player’s development. This path has already been on display as two Academy graduates, Ian Fray and Francisco Raggio, have signed professional contracts for the team and several other players have appeared in the team’s first two matches as Academy registrations.

“We believe that there is a gap in the developmental phase at American clubs and there has been for quite a few years. What happens when a player leaves U-19 and tries to move into a First Team is oftentimes that jump is way too big. So to have an intermediary step like we have here with Fort Lauderdale CF provides a platform for the players to move from U-17 soccer to professional soccer without trying to make one giant leap. We think it’s going to be a really integral part of development, the final development phase for these players.”

On the field, the Academy has seen a healthy amount of success to this point. Notably, a handful of players received youth national team call-ups, the U-12 team won two tournaments and the U-14 team participated in the ICC Futures tournament, facing off against elite clubs from across the globe including FC Barcelona.

“There’s no doubt that it’s testament to the level of talent at the Club. As I said the very first time we were at the ID sessions, I was extremely impressed with the talent level already here in South Florida. Now it’s about developing and taking another step forward.”

“We believe that the talent pool down here in South Florida is extremely rich so we should be able to develop some really nice players for this Club in the next three to five years.”

Kreis believes the Academy is on track to reach its goals through its first year. With things going according to plan, he has his sights set on the Club’s ultimate goal: developing professional players.

“I think in the short term we’re reaching our goals, seeing these players play in USL and seeing them contribute and be able to compete. In the long term, I think it has to be a clear objective that we want to develop professional players for Inter Miami.”

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