Lionel Messi’s coach, Gerardo “Tata” Martino, is leaving Inter Miami.
Martino is departing for personal reasons nearly a year and a half after both the coach and superstar player joined the club in the summer of 2023. The Argentine manager previously coached Messi for one season with Barcelona and two with their home country’s national team. Inter Miami will host a press conference Friday to formally address the news.
Martino has one year left on his deal, which paid him $1 million annually and tied him for the highest-paid coach in MLS. GiveMeSport first reported the news.
Coming off a Leagues Cup win last season, Inter Miami had a stunning regular season, setting a new MLS regular season points record with 74, despite Messi missing about half of the season due to injury or national team play. But during the playoffs, the Eastern Conference No. 1 ranked squad lost two games to one in a best-of-three series to Atlanta United, the No. 9 seed out of the Eastern Conference wild card, and Martino’s former team, which he coached to an MLS Cup in 2018. The stunning loss came Nov. 9, and MLS Cup playoffs continue Saturday.
“I want to say to our coach, Tata: thank you very much for an incredible season,” co-owner David Beckham said at the end of the regular season. “Thank you to your staff … gracias.”
Beckham also had inconsistency at the manager position when he came to play in MLS in 2007. His team, the LA Galaxy, cycled through three coaches in Beckham’s first 13 months with the team before landing on Bruce Arena, who would guide the team through 2016. The duo won two MLS Cups together in 2011 and 2012.
Now Beckham and his staff will search for the right candidate to guide Messi, his $20 million, 37-year-old star, through the final years of his career, having previously said he thinks Miami will be his last club. Next season, in addition to regular MLS play, Inter Miami qualified for the expanded FIFA Club World Cup. That tournament begins in June and will be hosted around the U.S. in cities like Seattle, Pasadena, and Washington, D.C.
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