Messi must rescue Inter Miami’s shocking season

Neel Shelat

• Updated: 23 Jun 2023 15:49 BST
• 6 min read

The 2023 summer transfer window has barely even opened, but we have already had some huge moves. The biggest transfer saga so far has certainly been surrounding Lionel Messi, whose departure from Paris Saint-Germain was announced before the end of the season.

It was known for months that he was going to leave, so various clubs were interested in his signature. Chief among them were Barcelona, who wanted him to return, Al Hilal, who prepared a €1 billion contract for him, and Inter Miami, who also promised him unthinkably great wages along with other financial incentives.

Ultimately, Messi made the decision to move to Miami, sealing what is almost universally regarded as the biggest transfer in MLS history. Detractors may criticise the competition by calling it a ‘retirement league’, but the reality is that MLS is fast becoming a great launchpad for young talents outside of Europe.

Either way, Inter Miami fans will hope that Messi does not have any plans of taking things lightly. The MLS season works in a year-round format so we are only about halfway through, but Inter Miami have absolutely struggled so far and really need to turn things around.

READ: Mbappe transfer ultimatum issued after betrayal

Team Performance

Of course, there is no relegation in MLS, so that is not something that Inter Miami have to worry about, but they will surely not want to stay at the bottom of the Eastern Conference for too much longer.

Sometimes, a bit of bad luck or just some deficiencies like poor finishing can leave a team in a very bad spot in the table when they might deserve a bit better, but that cannot be said of Inter Miami.

After what already was a really poor start to the season, things have only seemed to have gotten worse for Inter Miami. At the time of writing, they have both the worst attack and worst defence in the league based on the underlying xG numbers. It should hardly come as a surprise, then, that Phil Neville was sacked recently.

We should note that there have been a few factors that have made things tough for Inter Miami. They have been unlucky to see a couple of important players get injured – particularly key defensive midfielder Gregore.

The 29-year-old Brazilian played well over 5000 minutes for them over the last two seasons but suffered a season-ending injury just a couple of matches into this year. His side won both matches he completed, but have gone on to lose 11 of 14 since.

READ: Messi’s surprising LAST WORDS to Mbappe at PSG

Even with MLS’ standard roster rules, it is basically impossible for teams to have high-quality replacements in case their star players get injured. Things were only made worse for Inter Miami by the sanctions they received in 2021 for breaking roster rules, which limited what they could do during the draft.

Of course, that does make one wonder whether the signing of Messi also runs the risk of breaking roster rules. Given his stature and what his arrival means for the league as a whole, though, you should expect them to find a way around any trouble.

All things considered, Inter Miami’s terrible start to the season is good for Messi in a couple of ways. Many joked about him being coached by Phil Neville when initial links emerged so that is one fate he will avoid, but more importantly, the timings of these two things mean that the new coach can build their team from scratch around Messi.

Of course, there will be ten other players in that team too, so let us now take a look at Messi’s most important soon-to-be teammates.

Key Players

Another sign of how bad Inter Miami’s season has been is the fact that their best player has undisputably been goalkeeper Drake Callender. Based on the PSxG model, he has saved his side four goals this season, while his ball-playing and cross-claiming have also been quite good.

The best-known defender in Inter Miami’s squad is DeAndre Yedlin, who is in his second season at the club. The American international spent about seven years in England between 2014 to 2021, going on to stop by in Turkey before joining Inter Miami in 2022.

In the unlikely event that Messi is used on the right wing (he should ideally be given a free role in the middle), he will have to form a partnership with Yedlin on the wing. The two might not necessarily interact a great deal on the pitch, but their profiles should complement each other in a way.

Even last season when Inter Miami made the playoffs, Yedlin did not perform as a particularly attack-minded full-back and instead played a secure defensive role. So, he should be able to make up for Messi’s lack of defensive work on that side, while the Argentine World Cup winner will have no problems taking over attacking responsibilities.

Further up, the forwards will be particularly excited to combine with Messi. Inter Miami’s current strikeforce includes Josef Martinez, whom they signed at the start of this year. The Venezuelan international has a lot of experience in MLS having scored close to 100 goals in about 150 appearances for Atlanta United, so he will be licking his lips to get on the end of Messi’s service.

If not him, it will likely be Leonardo Campana who benefits. The Ecuadorian youngster was Inter Miami’s second-top scorer behind Gonzalo Higuain last season, with 11 goals on the back of some impressive underlying numbers.

The injury to Gregore means that Inter Miami’s midfield department is particularly in need of reinforcement, and it seems to be set to get just that. Reports have emerged that they have struck a deal with free agent Sergio Busquets who left Barcelona at the end of the European season, so a reunion with him could well be on the cards for Messi.

Inter Miami are also said to be planning to make one or two further signs in this window, so their target now has to be to rescue their campaign and sneak into the play-offs. The expanded format this season means nine teams can qualify from the Eastern Conference, so they could still be in with a chance of fighting for their first-ever trophy.