Tata Martino led Inter Miami to their first Supporters’ Shield title this year, with Lionel Messi securing his second piece of silverware for the Herons.
Although the Florida franchise were eliminated early on in the MLS play-offs, Sacha Kljestan deemed Inter Miami’s season a success having set a new regular-season points record on their way to winning the Supporters’ Shield.
As a result, Martino departed with Javier Mascherano taking the reigns as manager of Inter Miami, an appointment that has raised eyebrows from the likes of Shaka Hislop, with the Argentine coach yet to take over a position at club level.
And USA legend Landon Donovan believes Messi might have played a role in Martino’s departure from Inter Miami.
Donovan claims Messi could have inspired Martino to leave Inter Miami
Speaking on Unfiltered Soccer, the former LA Galaxy attacker theorized that Messi could have laid the seed for Martino’s departure in the event that Inter Miami didn’t win MLS Cup, with Mascherano brought in mere days after the former Atlanta United manager’s exit.
Donovan said: “Usually I think when a manager says they’re stepping away, that means the club pushed you out. I will say, as someone as experienced as Tata Martino, I could see a scenario where he’s said: ‘I truly need to step away for a while.’
“However, that all changed when all these Mascherano rumors began. If he steps away and you have a decision the next day, guess what, that decision is being made for months ahead of time.
“I think it’s pretty clear what happened here, I think Leo and everyone said: ‘It’s been great, but if we don’t win it [MLS Cup], this is what’s going to happen, he’s going to resign and we’re going to bring in our boy.'”
Messi’s power at Inter Miami could be their own undoing
There’s no denying that Messi deserves as much power as he currently does at Inter Miami, with the Argentine international the key reason behind the Florida franchise’s incredible transformation in the last 12 months.
However, a player having too much power could end up undoing all of Inter Miami’s progress if Mascherano does not work out next season, with Messi again put in a position to help with the process of finding a new manager.
Indeed, Inter Miami need to strike a fine balance between what Messi can and can’t control, and the forward potentially having a role in Martino leaving this winter crosses a line that few clubs should be allowing.