Inter Miami CF already made one of the biggest midseason acquisitions of the 2022 MLS campaign with a blockbuster trade earlier this month for former Landon Donovan MLS MVP Alejandro Pozuelo. Now, more reinforcements have officially arrived as the club introduced recently signed French attacker Corentin Jean at a Thursday press conference.
The 27-year-old joins from RC Lens in France's Ligue 1, bringing with him what manager Phil Neville described as a versatile skillset that can hopefully serve to provide his side a boost as they look to make an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs push down the stretch of the season.
Jean's exact role is still yet to be determined as Neville evaluates how exactly "Coco" fits into the club's attack, which will see the Frenchman join the likes of Pozuelo, Leo Campana, Gonzalo Higuain, Robert Taylor, Indiana Vassilev and Robbie Robinson.
"He's at a brilliant age where he's coming up to his peak," Neville said. "He's very versatile, he can play 7, 11, 10, as a 9. He's really quick over 5-10 meters, he can beat people one-v-one, he's got really good delivery from set plays and from wide areas. And he's just got that big-game experience that we feel as if he'll give us that composure in the final third. We've got in Pozuelo, we've got in now Coco to add to the real good players that we've got."
For his part, Jean said through a translator that he's already developed an early rapport with that unit, saying that his preference is to play up top off another striker, but that he's also able and willing to play as a wide attacker.
"I've been very well-received by the team," he said. "I do like to play up top but coach prefers to play in a 4-3-3. I've been used more at training in either a left or right position as a support for Gonzalo and Campana. But I hope that our relationships will continue to develop, and so far it's been going well."
"...When I was in France I had a chance to watch some of the matches. There's definitely a lot of quality in the team and the league itself has a lot of parity, so each match is difficult. For myself, I do like having space to work with, so the type of play is favorable for myself. I do enjoy playing on the left or the right, but my preferred position is definitely up top as one of the two strikers."
With Jean only recently joining the club for training due to recently receiving his visa, despite signing at the end of June, the Frenchman could make his MLS debut when Inter Miami take on FC Cincinnati in a Week 23 home matchup on Saturday (8 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+). However, Neville dubbed Campana, the club's leading goal-scorer in 2022, a "major, major doubt" for the fixture due to a leg injury, mentioning Jean among the names that could be tasked with helping carry the load while the Ecuadorian is sidelined.
"We have got Coco back, he has trained the last couple days after two weeks off," Neville said. "He's not played a game I think since May, so we're going to have to make sure when we put Coco in it's the right time and he's ready to perform, and not leave him short. So we've got some real good decisions to make in our forward positions."
