Mascherano exit highlights Miami's delicate, Messi-centric balancing act

Give Jorge Mas credit. The Inter Miami owner had a vision to bring Lionel Messi to South Florida, sprinkle in some of Messi's friends, add in some complementary players from Argentina as well as the academy, and make a run to be a force both on and off the field.

And it worked.

The long-awaited opening of Nu Stadium was a seminal moment for an organization that had numerous false starts. On the field, the Herons won a Leagues Cup in 2023, a Supporters' Shield in 2024 and an MLS Cup in 2025.

Now, though, that vision is in need of some refining.

The list of available Friends of Messi -- at least on the field -- is dwindling, and rapidly. There are too few of them left. Sergio Busquets and his metronome-like consistency in midfield has retired. Ditto for Jordi Alba and his attacks down the left flank. Luis Suárez, while still in the squad, has been reduced to bit-part status, as Father Time continues to lay waste to his body.

Now one of the biggest Messi friends of all, manager Javier Mascherano, has departed. The former club and international teammate of Messi announced his resignation as Miami manager on Tuesday due to "personal reasons," an explanation that ranks just below "mutual parting of ways" in terms of vagueness and its ability to provoke rampant speculation.

It invites skepticism too, although not of Mascherano. Rather, it's because it's the same phrase that Inter Miami used to explain Tata Martino's exit 18 months ago. This, after Martino led Miami to that aforementioned Supporters' Shield, but also succumbed to a first-round playoff exit at the hands of Atlanta United, which remains the biggest playoff upset in league history.

Mascherano's major blemish during his Inter Miami tenure was not winning the one trophy that has eluded the Herons so far: the Concacaf Champions Cup. He had two cracks at it, and came up short both times. Losing to Mexican opposition might have been tolerable, but on both occasions, it was an MLS side that knocked out Inter.

To be clear, the Vancouver Whitecaps (in 2025) and Nashville SC (this season) were deserving winners. There was nothing fluky at all about their respective triumphs. That said, it still had to sting, especially when Miami's payroll dwarfs those two sides and is more than double of that of all but two other MLS teams.

Even with that financial heft, the reality is that for this season, Mascherano was handed a side in transition. Sure, the Herons are third place in the Eastern Conference and in ninth in the Supporters' Shield standings, but the early returns are that the team isn't as cohesive as last year's, with the pieces not fitting together as seamlessly.

That is to be expected to a degree, but there are doubts about just how high this Miami side can climb, even with Messi. This is especially true of the team's replacements for their departed stars.

The combo of Yannick Bright and Rodrigo De Paul (with a little David Ayala thrown in) has a completely different skillset than the departed Busquets. They are more box-to-box types than deep-lying distributors. Sergio Reguilón has received limited minutes as he's worked his way back from a right knee injury in his bid to replace Alba. Goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair hasn't carried himself with the same swagger that he displayed last year with Minnesota United. Germán Berterame, the $15 million man, finally opened his account with Miami last weekend, scoring in the team's 2-2 draw with Red Bull New York. Berterame's talent is such that he may yet be the No. 9 that Miami needs, but he looks like an ill-fitting puzzle piece as he tries to navigate the gravity of Messi's presence.

It's now up to another Messi friend, Guillermo Hoyos, who coached Messi when they were at Barcelona's academy together, and was most recently the Herons' sporting director, to try to get the Miami Soccer Machine running smoothly again. At least that's the goal in the short term. Hoyos isn't a dead man walking, but as illustrated by the higher-profile appointments of Martino and Mascherano, he's 100% expendable. Might another Friend of Messi be waiting in the wings? (Current Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni coming to Miami sure would be something.)

Hoyos really has no choice but to embrace the chaos that comes with having a technical role with the club, and hope that the team -- and especially its new signings -- find some consistency.

Messi is the exact opposite of Hoyos, of course. He is Inter Miami, but his presence as a player with the Herons has an expiration date: June of 2028, to be exact. Hence the need to recalibrate.

Betting against Mas is ill advised. Since joining the club in 2018, he's managed to pull of coup after coup, but moving the club forward at this juncture is a tricker proposition than it looks. The balancing act required to keep Messi happy while still looking to the future is a delicate one. Succeeding would see even more credit directed Mas' way.