Inter Miami CF announced today that it has signed defensive midfielder Dixon Arroyo to a contract running through the remainder of the 2023 Major League Soccer (MLS) season, with a Club option for 2024, pending the receipt of his P-1 Visa and ITC. The experienced Ecuadorian joins after his stint with C.S. Emelec in his native country, where he was the captain and had featured since 2018.
“We’re happy to be able to reinforce our squad with an experienced, combative defensive midfielder like Dixon. He’s a leader and an imposing figure in the middle of the field that we feel will help fill a need for us, especially as Gregore continues his recovery,” said Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director Chris Henderson.
“I’m grateful and honored to be joining Inter Miami, an ambitious Club in an extremely competitive league that has a passionate fan base. I’m looking forward to working hard and give it my all to contribute both on and off the pitch and achieve our objectives,” said Arroyo.
Arroyo, 30, is a former Ecuadorian Serie A champion with national team experience that has featured in South America’s most important international club competitions. The defensive midfielder spent the entirety of his career in his native Ecuador to this point, featuring for four different teams (S.D. Quito, LDU Loja, Independiente del Valle, and Emelec), notably reaching the 2018 and 2021 final of the Ecuadorian Serie A, the renowned 2016 Copa Libertadores final, and winning the league as a member of S.D. Quito in 2011.
The majority of Arroyo’s career has been spent at his two most recent stops, Emelec and Independiente del Valle. He joined Emelec ahead of the 2018 season and went on to make 189 total appearances for the team, wore the captain’s armband and tallied seven goals and eight assists across all competitions. At Independiente del Valle, Arroyo made 116 appearances notching four goals and five assists between 2015 and 2017, including playing a role in the team’s historic run to the 2016 Conmebol Copa Libertadores final and being a member of the starting XI in both legs of the final.
The midfielder spent the earlier stages of his career at S.D Quito, where he made his professional debut and won the Ecuadorian Serie A title, and LDU Loja, where he featured from 2013 to 2015.
Arroyo has also featured on the international stage, making two appearances with the Ecuadorian senior national team. He made his senior international debut for La Tri in a March 2021 friendly against Bolivia, starting and playing 90 minutes in a 2-1 win. He made his second appearance for the team in June 2022, featuring off the bench in a 1-0 friendly win over Nigeria.
In the friendly against Bolivia, Arroyo played alongside new teammate and fellow Ecuadorian international Leonardo Campana. The pair also featured against each other in one Ecuadorian Serie A match earlier in their careers, when Arroyo’s Emelec took on Campana’s Barcelona SC in 2019.
