Neville squashes Figal-to-Tigres talk, Gibbs back, Beckham’s son Romeo makes USL debut

Inter Miami coach Phil Neville on Monday delivered two bits of good news for fans of the team:

Defender Kieran Gibbs returned from injury and will be ready for the Wednesday home game against Nashville SC. Also, center back Nico Figal, who has drawn interest from Mexican club Tigres, “will be an Inter Miami player come Thursday morning, 100 percent.”

The Liga MX transfer window closes Sept. 22, and Tigres has approached Inter Miami about an offer to acquire Figal on loan until the end of the season with an option to purchase his contract. Miami is battling for a playoff spot and does not want to give him up.

“Nico has been absolutely outstanding, one of our most consistent players, probably the heart of our team in terms of his character and fight and size of his heart,” Neville said. “So, he’s not the type of player I want to be getting rid of at this moment in time. He’s the type of player we need in the center of our defense because he gives us a better chance to win football games.

“We want to win, and you can’t let your best players go. Unfortunately, we live in a world where there’s lots of speculation, lots of agents out there who want to make their fast dollar. We think the world of him. The players absolutely love him. The supporters love him and from now until the end of the season he’ll be an Inter Miami player.”

Figal will be missing from the next two games, however, after picking up two yellow cards in last Friday’s 4-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls. He is suspended one game for those two yellows and the second game for yellow card accumulation.

Defender Leandro Gonzalez Pirez is also out Wednesday for yellow-card accumulation, leaving Christian Makoun as the only regular starter on the back line. Ryan Shawcross, Joevin Jones, Ventura Alvarado and Victor Ulloa are all out injured, leaving the Miami defense decimated.

Gibbs’ return comes just in time.

“We’ve got Gibbs back, which is a really good addition with his experience,” Neville said. “He trained the past three or four days, feels good, feels really motivated, so he’s back into the equation for Wednesday.”

Miami coaches and staff explored the option of bringing up a defender or two from their USL Fort Lauderdale SC team under the MLS “extreme hardship” rule, which allows short-term call-ups (up to four days) if a club has “fewer than 16 outfield players — or fewer than two goalkeepers — available.”

Draft pick Aime Mabike, a 6-6 defender who has been playing for Fort Lauderdale – trained with the Inter Miami on Monday, but Neville said he is “not an option” for Wednesday because the team has 16 fit players – though very few defenders.

Neville would like to see the hardship rule relaxed.

“I think the MLS is a really good league, one challenge I would have with the system we have is this would be a game without a shadow of a doubt where Mabika, Harvey [Neville, the coach’s son], Modesto [Mendez], Noah Allen would probably come into contention to start an MLS game. You talk about developing your own players and academy kids, I think this is definitely something we need to look to as a league. When you have a USL team that are all your players, surely there’s got to be some kind of pathway for them into the senior team.

“A rule we have is blocking the progress of two or three young players to maybe start an MLS game on Wednesday. That rule needs looking at going forward.”

LIKE FATHERS, LIKE SONS

David Beckham’s 19-year-old son Romeo made his debut Saturday with Fort Lauderdale SC. The midfielder was on the field with Neville’s son Harvey, reminiscent of the days their fathers were Manchester United teammates.

“First thing David said to me is `You’ve got to be harder on him than anyone else because there will be questions, expectations on his shoulders,’ no different from my son,” Neville said. “I’m harder on my boy than I am on any other player in this club, and he knows it.

“I thought Romeo did really well. They planned to play him 45 minutes and played nearly 80 because he’s a boy that’s hungry and has a lot of pressure and expectation on his shoulders. But he’s got his feet firmly on the ground. He knows he’s got a lot of development to do, and he’s got all the right attributes, character, determination, good person. He’s popular in the dressing room.”