FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Another close friend of Lionel Messi will soon play in South Florida.
Argentine midfielder Rodrigo De Paul has agreed to contract terms with Inter Miami, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old De Paul will leave Atlético Madrid — where he's played since 2021 — for Major League Soccer on a short-term contract with Inter Miami that could potentially lead to a multiyear deal. He had one year left on his contract at Atlético Madrid.
ESPN first reported the deal.
De Paul and national team buddy Messi hope to continue to elevate Inter Miami, which has reached historic heights since Messi's arrival in 2023. The Herons reached the knockout stage of the Club World Cup and have won their past five MLS matches as they eye a second straight Supporters' Shield.
De Paul could be in uniform with Inter Miami in time for the start of Leagues Cup play later this month, though his exact arrival date is uncertain, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the signing has not been announced.
The deal, which has been in the works for several weeks, comes as negotiations between Messi and Inter Miami on a contract extension remain ongoing.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner's current contract expires at the end of December, and he is expected to return to the club for at least another season.
The signing of De Paul adds another veteran with whom Messi already has chemistry, along with 37-year-old Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, 38, and Jordi Alba, 36.
Messi, Busquets and Alba are Miami's three Designated Players with salaries higher than the league maximum. Alba has already signed a contract extension to remain with Inter Miami through the 2027 season. Busquets has not yet renewed his contract that expires at the end of the season. If Busquets does not return, that could free up a spot for De Paul to eventually become one of Miami's three Designated Players.
De Paul has been a key player for Atlético Madrid since joining the Spanish club from Italian team Udinese in 2021. He helped Argentina win the World Cup in 2022 and was part of Copa America victories in 2021 and 2024.
Messi and Inter Miami are coming off a historic season in 2024 in which they finished with the best record in MLS history and the best winning percentage in league history, only to be quickly bounced from the MLS playoffs.
AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed from Las Vegas.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Argentina's Lionel Messi, right, celebrates with Rodrigo De Paul during a Copa America semifinal soccer match against Canada in East Rutherford, N.J., July 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Atletico Madrid's Rodrigo De Paul controls the ball during the Club World Cup Group B soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Botafogo in Pasadena, Calif., June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
The U.S. government admitted Wednesday that the Federal Aviation Administration and the Army played a role in causing the collision last January between an airliner and a Black Hawk helicopter near the nation's capital, killing 67 people in the deadliest crash on American soil in more than two decades.
The official response to the first lawsuit filed by one of the victims’ families said that the government is liable in the crash partly because the air traffic controller violated procedures about when to rely on pilots to maintain visual separation that night. Plus, the filing said, the Army helicopter pilots' “failure to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid” the airline jet makes the government liable.
But the filing suggested that others, including the pilots of the jet and the airlines, may also have played a role. The lawsuit also blamed American Airlines and its regional partner, PSA Airlines, for roles in the crash, but those airlines have filed motions to dismiss.
At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport in northern Virginia, just across the river from Washington, D.C., officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.
Robert Clifford, one of the attorneys for the family of victim Casey Crafton, said the government admitted “the Army’s responsibility for the needless loss of life” and the FAA’s failure to follow air traffic control procedures while “rightfully” acknowledging others –- American Airlines and PSA Airlines -– also contributed to the deaths.
The families of the victims “remain deeply saddened and anchored in the grief caused by this tragic loss of life,” he said.
The government's lawyers said in the filing that “the United States admits that it owed a duty of care to plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident.”
The National Transportation Safety Board will release its report on the cause of the crash early next year, but investigators have already highlighted a number of factors that contributed, including the helicopter flying 78 feet higher (24 meters) than the 200-foot (61-meter) limit on a route that allowed only scant separation between planes landing on Reagan's secondary runway and helicopters passing below. Plus, the NTSB said, the FAA failed to recognize the dangers around the busy airport even after 85 near misses in the three years before the crash.
Before the collision, the controller twice asked the helicopter pilots whether they had the jet in sight, and the pilots said they did and asked for visual separation approval so they could use their own eyes to maintain distance. FAA officials acknowledged at the NTSB’s investigative hearings that the controllers at Reagan had become overly reliant on the use of visual separation. That’s a practice the agency has since ended.
Witnesses told the NTSB that they have serious questions about how well the helicopter crew could spot the plane while wearing night vision goggles and whether the pilots were even looking in the right spot.
Investigators have said the helicopter pilots might not have realized how high they were because the barometric altimeter they were relying on was reading 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) lower than the altitude registered by the flight data recorder.
The crash victims included a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches who had just attended a competition in Wichita, Kansas, and four union steamfitters from the Washington area.
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FILE - Attorney Bob Clifford speaks during a news conference regarding the Jan. 29, 2025, mid-air collision between American Eagle flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter, at the National Press Club, Sept. 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)
FILE - National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy speaks during the NTSB fact-finding hearing on the DCA midair collision accident, at the National Transportation and Safety Board boardroom, July 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)
