Tata Martino to be named Inter Miami coach as early as Wednesday, will reunite with Messi

As expected, Gerardo “Tata” Martino will be named Inter Miami head coach, according to multiple sources close to the team and Fox Sports.

The former FC Barcelona, Argentina and Atlanta United coach was in Argentina over the weekend, traveling to Miami on Tuesday, and is expected to be formally introduced as early as Wednesday. Martino, 60, replaces Phil Neville, who was fired on June 1.

Javi Morales, an assistant under Neville, has been the interim coach over the past few weeks. Martino will be Inter Miami’s third coach in four years.

It is hardly a surprise that Martino was selected for the job. He was the first name that came up once it was clear Inter Miami was planning a change, and the fact that he has coached Miami-bound Lionel Messi on two occasions and won the MLS Cup in 2018 made him a natural choice.

Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas said there were three finalists for the job and confirmed Martino had interviewed for the position. The names of the other two never surfaced.

Martino and Messi are both natives of Rosario, Argentina, and spent time together in their hometown over the weekend participating in a testimonial game for former Argentina player Maxi Rodriguez, who is retiring. Messi scored a first half hat-trick on his 36^th birthday in front of 42,000 fans.

Messi’s team in the exhibition was representing the Argentine national team and they played against a collection of legends from Rosario club Newell’s Old Boys, who were coached by former Newell’s coach Martino.

Martino first coached Messi at FC Barcelona in 2013-14, but he and the Spanish club parted ways after one season. The team was eliminated by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals, was runner up to Atletico Madrid for the La Liga title and reached the Copa Del Rey final but lost to Real Madrid.

Although that would be considered a successful season by most standards, it was the first trophy-less season for Barca since 2007-08.

Martino then became coach of the Argentina national team and led the team to the 2015 Copa América final before losing to host Chile on penalties. His team also finished runner-up in the Copa América Centenario, losing again to Chile on penalties.

Martino resigned from the Argentina national team in July 2016 and was hired to lead Major League Soccer expansion team Atlanta United, which kicked off in 2017. He led Atlanta to the MLS Cup championship in its second season and Martino was named MLS Coach of the Year. He then left for Mexico to coach its national team and spent three years there through the 2022 World Cup.

Mexico won the 2019 Gold Cup under Martino but had some disappointing results during World Cup qualifying and the team was eliminated after the Group Stage in Qatar. Martino and Mexico parted ways after the World Cup, and he let it be known he would welcome a return to MLS.

“MLS is my weakness,” Martino said in an interview with The Athletic. “I was part of an extraordinary project with Atlanta United that had a clear direction, a lot of communication and similar objectives that were established very quickly and executed.

“After coaching in MLS, I became attracted to it. I like the league. The possibility of returning to MLS is always there.”

In addition to being familiar with Messi, Martino has coached Sergio Busquets, Messi’s former teammate at FC Barcelona, who will also join Inter Miami in July. He also has coached Inter Miami’s Mexican midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro and forward Josef Martinez, who was the MLS MVP with Atlanta United during the championship season.

Martino takes over an Inter Miami team that is in last place in the Eastern Conference with a 5-13-0 record and 15 points over 18 games. The next game is at home Saturday against Austin FC.