Lionel Messi’s future, squad depth issues, Herons on international break

Tata Martino’s side were left reeling from a heavy defeat to New York Red Bulls last weekend but will welcome back a number of first team players.

Another week, another swing on the pendulum of sporting emotion for Inter Miami. Just seven days on from victory over DC United - finally, a win without Lionel Messi - a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of New York Red Bulls showed just how much they miss Lionel Messi.

The Herons were without a number of likely starters due to the international break but the scale of the drop-off to Tata Martino’s back-up options is a major cause for concern. They have at least managed to add a right back in the form of Marcelo Weigandt, but question marks remain over this team’s ability to compete across a whole season.

Anyway, without any further ado, here’s your Miami Missive for Friday, 29 March...

At points of last season it looked like an admittedly successful Inter Miami side had become overly dependent on the other-worldly talents of Lionel Messi. The Argentine has now been absent for both of Inter Miami’s 2024 defeats but last weekend’s loss to NYRB also showed the team’s reliance on the energy brought by it’s young stars.

Three young midfielders - David Ruiz, Diego Gomez and Federico Redondo - were all away on international duty over the international break and the absence of their physicality was painfully apparent at Red Bulls Arena. In the previous week’s 3-1 victory over DC United Gomez and Redondo were fielded either side of Sergio Busquets, proving the physical attributes that the Spaniard has either lost or, perhaps, never had in the first place.

Their midfield dynamism not only eases the burden on Busquets, but also prevents the defence being swamped by runners from midfield; a