Inter Miami is increasingly building the club around Lionel Messi and the people the Argentine star trusts. The strategy initially brought success, but recently it has started to backfire. After five consecutive matches without a win, the club fired interim coach Guillermo Ojos and appointed Kili Gonzalez. However, the choice of Gonzalez again raises questions about Messi's excessive influence. The two have known each other for years, are originally from Rosario and were teammates on the Argentina national team. The problem is that Gonzalez has no serious coaching success - in his previous three club appointments he recorded only a 32.5% success rate and has never won a trophy. Messi himself remains Inter Miami's best player, but even his 14 goals and 9 assists in 18 games are no longer enough to compensate for the problems in the squad. The new coach will have to simultaneously build a competitive team and maintain a good relationship with the superstar - a task that proved too difficult for his predecessor Javier Mascherano. The dependence on Messi already raises the question of whether the club has begun to put the star's personal preferences above the long-term building of a successful team.
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Aug 29, 2026 08:26 40