BREAKING: Lionel Messi‘s Former Coach Tata Martino Becomes Inter Miami Coach?—Inter Miami head coach Phil Neville has been let go according to multiple reports.
Neville’s tenure in South Florida has seemingly ended in the midst of his third season with the club.
Miami has been in poor form under the former Manchester United star, with a 5-0-10 record across 15 games – good for worst in the Eastern Conference and third-worst in the league overall. One bright side is that they have progressed to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup.
But last night’s 1-0 loss to the now eleventh place New York Red Bulls was seemingly the final straw – as supporters held signs and chanted for Neville to be sacked.
Early reports suggest that Tata Martino is an early frontrunner for the job. Martino, a former manager at Atlanta United and Barcelona, is an ex-coach of Lionel Messi – who has been linked with the club.
Whether or not those links between the two Argentines leads to a move to MLS remains to be seen as Messi seems set to depart Paris Saint-Germain this summer.
‘I like Tata Martino,’ Messi said of the man who he worked with at Barcelona and the Argentina national team. ‘He is a great coach and he showed that in the Clausura with what he did for the team, the way it ended and how he did it. He gets his teams playing well and we all respect him.’
Martino, who was sacked after a poor showing with Mexico in the 2022 World Cup, has made it clear that he enjoys MLS and would be interested in a return.
‘MLS is my weakness,” Martino said. ‘I was part of an extraordinary project with Atlanta United that had a clear direction, a lot of communication and similar objectives that were established very quickly and executed.
‘After coaching in MLS, I became attracted to it. I like the league. The possibility of returning to MLS is always there.’
