It seems a bizarre thing to write, but Lionel Messi has joined a team who are bottom of the table, just fired their head coach and have lost 11 of their 16 league games this season.
That’s the situation Inter Miami CF find themselves in right now, so the arrival of an all-time great must sound like the answer to their most hopeful of prayers.
Inter Miami, owned by David Beckham, are one of MLS’ newest franchises, having been named the league’s 25th club in 2018 and playing their first official game in North America’s top flight two years later.
Phil Neville was their first ever head coach and remained in the job until a few days ago.
Results this season are an easy explanation for that: 15 points from 16 games, 15 goals scored, 21 conceded. Only Colorado and LA Galaxy, both in the Western Conference, have a worse MLS record this campaign so far.
The silver lining in 2023 for Inter Miami has been the US Open Cup and on Wednesday they will compete in the quarter-finals against USL Championship side Birmingham Legion FC.
They have made it through three rounds already, most recently defeating MLS outfit Nashville in the Round of 16.
Messi joining a managerless team
It is a strange situation that a seven-times Ballon d’Or winner and captain of last year’s World Cup winners is arriving at a team in turmoil and without a head coach.
The job just got a whole lot more attractive for potential candidates, for sure.
Inter Miami are currently being led by interim head coach Javier Morales, curiously also from Argentina, after Phil Neville was relieved of his duties last week.
It was not an easy decision for Beckham to remove his friend and the club’s first-ever head coach, but he admitted he knew the time was right.
Now as the franchise, still only in its third-ever season, looks to regroup, refresh and rebuild, they will be boosted by a 35-year-old Lionel Messi who has proved he is still a top-level player.
In 41 games for Paris Saint-Germain in 2022/23, Messi bagged 21 goals and 20 assists, in a season interrupted by a World Cup he just so happened to win.