Messi reunited with Barcelona FLOP at Inter Miami

Tom Hancock

• 29 Jun 2023 13:58 BST
• 3 min read

Lionel Messi will team up with former Barcelona manager and Argentine compatriot Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino once again at Inter Miami.

The MLS club announced the appointment of Martino as their new head coach – succeeding Phil Neville, who was sacked earlier this month – on Wednesday (June 28).

Messi will officially sign for Miami on Saturday (July 1) as a free agent, following the expiry of his contract at PSG, becoming the biggest star to move to the American top flight since David Beckham joined LA Galaxy 16 years ago.

MORE: Messi SLAMS PSG ahead of Inter Miami move

Martino has been out of club management since 2018, with his most recent job seeing him take charge of the Mexican national team – who Messi and Argentina beat en route to winning the 2022 World Cup.

The 60-year-old spent just one season, 2013/14, in the Barcelona dugout – and it’s fair to say that it was a less than successful one: Barca blew the La Liga title on the final day of the campaign and failed to lift a major trophy.

Messi and Martino’s connections don’t end there, though: ‘Tata’ spent the majority of his playing career with Newell’s Old Boys, the club where Messi started out himself as a kid.

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Messi in the boardroom?

With the 2023/24 MLS season currently in progress, Messi could well make his debut for Inter Miami within a matter of weeks.

And this transfer might just be the beginning of a long association between the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner and MLS.

That’s because Messi has also been offered the chance to buy a franchise in the league at the end of his time playing for Miami – as FootballTransfers exclusively revealed earlier this week.