Inter Miami CF have found the full back they’ve been searching for, signing former Seattle Sounders defender Joevin Jones to a two-year contract.
Jones jumped the gun on the announcement when he hinted at joining the team earlier this week, updating his bio on Instagram and putting “Inter Miami CF” with the American flag next to the club’s name Tuesday afternoon — two days before the signing was made official — before quickly taking it out.
But Inter Miami made the deal official on Thursday afternoon, adding the player who’ll likely start at left back for them to kick off the 2021 season.
“Joevin is a talented player with great title-winning MLS experience who can feature in a number of positions” Chris Henderson, Inter Miami’s chief soccer officer and sporting director, said in a statement. “I know Joevin well from my time in Seattle, he has the technical ability to change games and will be a good fit with us at Inter Miami.”
Henderson and Jones have previously worked together, with Henderson serving as the Seattle Sounders’ vice president of soccer and sporting director when Seattle acquired Jones from the Chicago Fire — where he started his MLS career in 2015 — in January 2016.
Jones, 29, played the 2016 and 2017 seasons with Seattle, mainly as a starter, before playing two seasons with German club Darmstadt 98 from 2017-19. He returned to Seattle for the 2019 season, spending two more years with the team before the club declined his contract option for the 2021 season in December 2020, making him a free agent.
He’s appeared in 121 matches (102 starts) during his five-year MLS career, scoring six goals and adding 20 assists during that timespan.
Jones played in 13 games (10 starts) for Seattle in 2020, recording two goals and three assists during the regular season. He started all four of the Sounders’ playoff games, with Seattle falling to the Columbus Crew, 3-0, in the MLS Cup final.
Jones recorded a career-high 11 assists in 2017 and was a part of the Seattle teams that won the MLS Cup in 2016 and 2019.
He’s also played for the Trinidad and Tobago men’s national team since 2010, scoring nine goals in 76 appearances. Jones started his senior career in 2009 with W Connection F.C. in Trinidad and Tobago, where he scored 28 goals in 55 league appearances across four seasons, before joining the Fire.
Jones has also played as a midfielder on both the club and international level — giving Inter Miami an extra option at both left back and left midfielder as they continue to look for a central attacking midfielder or winger.
According to his bio on the MLS’s website, Jones is a “defender with pure wingback sensibilities who lives to push into the opponent’s final third as an added attacker. A capable crosser with good instincts, Jones doesn’t skimp on the defensive end either as a capable [heads-up] defender who will routinely run down attacks from seemingly nowhere.”
Henderson had previously confirmed that the club had been in talks for West Bromwich Albion left back Kieran Gibbs, but Gibbs’ contract with West Brom is set to expire over the summer. Inter Miami are still reportedly interested in Gibbs even though he wouldn’t join the team until the summer if he signed with the club.
Inter Miami have filled 27 of their 30 active roster spots with Jones’ signing ahead of the 2021 season.
They’re holding preseason camp in Fort Lauderdale for the next two weeks, which will include a closed-door friendly against Miami FC on March 20 at Inter Miami’s training facility.
Inter Miami will travel throughout Florida for a week starting on March 26 for training and friendlies before returning to South Florida for the final two weeks of preseason ahead of their season-opener versus the LA Galaxy at 3 p.m. on April 18 at Inter Miami CF Stadium.
Inter Miami’s 2021 roster
Goalkeepers (3): Drake Callender, Dylan Castanheira, John McCarthy;
Defenders (8): Nico Figal, Ian Fray, Joevin Jones, Leandro González Pirez, Christian Makoun, Dylan Nealis, Patrick Seagrist, Ryan Shawcross;
Midfielders (13): George Acosta, Edison Azcona, Jay Chapman, Gregore, Federico Higuain, Blaise Matuidi, Lewis Morgan, Matías Pellegrini, Josh Penn, Rodolfo Pizarro, Brek Shea, Victor Ulloa, Felipe Valencia;
Forwards (3): Julián Carranza, Gonzalo Higuaín, Robbie Robinson.
