Uncertainty about Messi, Busquets is hurting Inter Miami. Club, fans need answers now | Opinion

Imagine, for a moment, that Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier were told they must wait until the ninth game of the 2023 season to find out if their intended starting quarterback and another key starter want to play for the team.

In the meantime, McDaniel and Grier are asked to make do for the first half of the season and reserve millions of dollars for those two potential players’ salaries while their opponents play with full rosters.

Absurd as that may sound, it is precisely the situation Inter Miami coach Phil Neville and chief soccer officer Chris Henderson find themselves in as the Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets vigil enters its fifth month.

Surely, being in limbo for the first 40 percent of this season, unable to re-sign playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo or other high-priced midfielders, has contributed to the team’s rocky start.

A quick recap: Messi, the Argentine superstar who played for Paris Saint Germain this season, and his former FC Barcelona teammate and friend Sergio Busquets, have been flirting with the idea of joining Inter Miami for more than a year. Both of their contracts expire June 30, and both have been in serious discussions with Miami owners David Beckham and Jorge and Jose Mas while also weighing options in Europe and the Middle East.

Inter Miami is so hopeful it will get the two stars that no other player has been assigned No. 10 or No. 5 this season. Those happen to be the numbers worn by Messi and Busquets.

Another hint that the club is gambling on the arrival of at least one high profile player in July is that Inter Miami single-game home tickets are available only for games through July 1. If you try to buy a ticket through the club website/Ticketmaster for later in the season, it says “In the works. Check back!” Other teams have tickets available for the duration of the season.

MLS commissioner Don Garber has said the league is doing all it can to help Miami land the deal, which makes perfect sense because it would be massive for MLS and its new $2.5 billion partner Apple. The league and Apple aim to expand their global footprint, and having Messi playing in an MLS jersey on Apple TV every week would fulfill that mission.

But so far, neither Messi nor Busquets has offered any hints of their plans as their club seasons wind down this week.

Messi scored in a 1-1 tie against Strasbourg Saturday, clinching a French record 11th league title for PSG. With that goal, Messi’s 496^th in European club play, he broke Cristiano Ronaldo’s scoring record for Europe’s top five leagues.

Then, on Sunday, Busquets bid farewell to Barcelona in an emotional evening as the LaLiga champions beat Mallorca 3-0 at Camp Nou.

In the meantime, 40 percent of the MLS season is over, and Inter Miami finds itself in last place in the Eastern Conference with a 5-9-0 record heading into Wednesday’s home game against New York Red Bulls. Miami has scored 14 goals in 14 games, third fewest in the East.

The team had made great strides over the second half of last season with the acquisition of Pozuelo, which coincided with the resurgence of forward Gonzalo Higuain. Finally, Higuain had a true No. 10 feeding him the ball in the box, and he capitalized with a stretch of 12 goals and two assists over 14 games late in the season.

But Higuain retired after the season. Pozuelo was out of contract, and Miami made him an offer to stay, but he got more (reportedly $1 million) from Turkish club Konyaspor. Miami had its hands tied partly because it is saving money for Messi/Busquets, partly because of salary sanctions for previous management’s improper deal with Blaise Matuidi, and partly because Mexican midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro has a guaranteed contract of $3.3 million.

Pizarro was on loan to Mexican team Monterrey last season, but they did not want him back, so he returned to Miami. He has missed a good chunk of the season with a hamstring injury. Team captain Gregore, a defensive midfielder, is out for six months after foot surgery and his Brazilian compatriot Jean Mota is out four to six months after knee surgery in early May.

Midfielder Bryce Duke was traded to Montreal in April, along with winger Ariel Lassiter, for defender Kamal Miller and $1.3 million, money to add to the summer wish pot.

Without other proven midfielders available, Neville has had to lean on teenagers Benjamin Cremaschi and David Ruiz, local academy products, and Dixon Arroyo, an Ecuadorian who was brought in as a stop gap.

The teens responded courageously and brilliantly (Cremaschi has an assist, Ruiz a goal and assist). Arroyo scored a goal, as well. But the team still lacks a true No. 10, soccer’s equivalent of a quarterback or point guard, a playmaker with great field vision and the ability to thread passes to forwards through tight spaces.

That is not the only reason for Miami’s lack of goals. Forward Leo Campana missed the first six games with an injury. Josef Martinez, the 2018 MLS MVP, was brought in from Atlanta to replace Higuain and despite his team-high $4 million salary (Miami is paying about a third, Atlanta the rest), he has three goals and one assist in 12 games.

But a true No. 10 sure would help. Neville has been stressing the importance of that position all season, pointing out that New England’s Carles Gil, Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar, Atlanta’s Thiago Almada and Cincinnati’s Lucho Acosta are a big reason those four teams are among the top five in the East.

“When we got Pozuelo, Gonzalo got goals,” Neville said. “All of a sudden, it changes the world of your center forwards because they’ve got a player who they trust to make that final pass, the right weighted pass, in the big moments.”

The Inter Miami No. 10 and No. 5 jerseys are still on hold, as is the entire club and its fan base.

Some fans are understandably getting restless, posting harsh criticism of Neville and the team on social media. Will the Messi/Busquets gamble pay off? Are they coming or not? Inter Miami needs answers. Now.