Miami (AFP) – Lionel Messi’s new coach at Inter Miami will be announced “in the coming days,” the club’s co-owner Jorge Mas said on Friday, with reports suggesting Javier Mascherano is in pole position. Argentine Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino has left the club due to personal reasons, and Mas stated that he and fellow owner David Beckham have quickly moved to identify his replacement.
Media reports in Argentina have claimed that Messi’s former Barcelona team-mate, Javier Mascherano, currently coaching Argentina’s Under-20 national side, is set to take on the role. Mas would neither confirm nor deny that Mascherano had been chosen to replace his compatriot Martino, but mentioned that Messi had been consulted.
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“I spoke to Leo on Saturday after he and Tata spoke. I asked him what is important to you and what is important to get the best of our roster? How do we improve?” Mas said during a press conference. “Leo shared with me his thoughts. Familiarity with Leo and the other stars is an advantage in every aspect. I want Leo to feel comfortable with the new coach,” he added.
Mascherano was not only a team-mate of Messi’s for Argentina and Barcelona but also played alongside current Inter Miami players Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, and Luis Suarez at the Spanish club. Mas emphasized that the club needed “a great coach” who was “ambitious and hungry” and had the desire to play an attacking style of football.
Martino joined Inter Miami last June as part of the transformation of the club that occurred with Messi’s arrival. Inter Miami won the Leagues Cup, a joint tournament between MLS and Mexican Liga MX clubs, in his first season in charge. This year, Miami dominated the regular season, winning the Supporters’ Shield for the team with the best overall record—an achievement that led FIFA to grant them a place in next year’s Club World Cup. However, Miami lost to Martino’s former club, Atlanta, in a best-of-three opening round to the MLS Cup playoffs in what was considered a major upset.
“It has been a very satisfactory year and a half, I am grateful for the opportunity, and although we ended the season on a sour note, and fell short of what we wanted to accomplish, we had a lot of success and I would have liked very much to have continued being part of this club,” Martino told the news conference. “I am happy we transformed this club from one that struggled to make the playoffs to the one that won the Leagues Cup, won the Supporters’ Shield, and had the best record in history,” he added.
Martino explained that his motive for leaving was purely due to non-football reasons that made it impossible for him to continue. “For strictly personal reasons, I just have to leave Inter. We can’t come back next year; I need to be in Rosario,” he said. “The reality is that I’m not going to work for at least several months next year. I have no chance of working.”
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