Chris Wittyngham on the range of emotions regarding Lionel Messi joining Inter Miami

Absolutely mammoth bombshell news when Lionel Messi chose Inter Miami, although there's still some crossing of T's and dotting of I's that has to happen before it becomes official, unless that has happened while we started this program. But Inter Miami right now, not good in the table, bottom of it. Phil Neville, head coach, manager, out.

What's next? But they've got Messi. And the man who has been behind the mic for a lot of it, if not all of it, a friend of ours who's been on with us before, Chris Winningham, part of the Apple TV MLS commentary collective, if you will, and he joins us on the Adam Gold show. So range of emotions, right? Team not doing well, Phil Neville out, Lionel Messi in, probably better than Phil Neville, right? Yeah, I actually don't think there's much of a range of emotions.

I think it's just all 100% jubilation. We'll figure out the bit with the league table later on. And actually, Miami last night got through to an open cup semifinal. So Lionel Messi, believe it or not, is two wins away from winning a trophy with Inter Miami already.

It's extraordinary. So yeah, I do think that there is definitely a lot of work to do with the roster and Miami will go about acquiring and using their resources to perhaps bring in some friends of Lionel and bring in some players to beef up this squad. But by the time that a new manager comes in, Lionel comes into the team, some other players come into the team, Miami will look unrecognizable from the team they are now. And the question is, how good will that team be and will that be enough to at least propel them into MLS's expanded playoff format?

You certainly think that Lionel Messi might be good enough to at least be worth a couple of goals a week, or maybe a goal a week, which might be enough to get them over the top. Real quick, because the season here does not run congruent to the season there, meaning in European football, when can we expect Messi to even be in the squad? So the transfer window in America opens on July the 5th. That is the first day that an MLS team can register a player that is a new signing. So minimum July the 5th, so Miami will play out the remainder of June without Lionel Messi. And then I guess the question is sort of what would be Lionel Messi's ramp up time, because his offseason only just started this past Sunday when the French league season just came to an end.

So presumably you take three or four weeks off, there's probably a three or four week ramping up period. So the reported date that it was thrown out there by the athletic was July the 21st, which is the first day of the new leagues cup, which is the tournament that will pit Major League Soccer against Liga Ameces, the Mexican league. All 47 teams will be in one World Cup style tournament, which will kick off on July the 21st. Miami is playing on opening night against one of the big clubs in Mexico, Cusasul. So that's been floated out there, but that's not 100% certain.

So you did mention at the beginning the crossing of the T's and the dotting of the I's, that has to be done. But once it's officially over the line, I think it'll sort of be dependent on his ramp up period for when we actually see him. In terms of league play, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see him until after the leagues cup, which will be somewhere around the 20th of August. There's a little bit of a ramp up period for him to get fully fit in time for that run in, which will be around 14 games that Miami will have with Messi to get going and make that playoff push. Chris Winningham, part of the Apple TV broadcast crew, and I know he does enter Miami games.

You're based in Miami. It's been a good run for South Florida. Panthers playing game three tonight. Miami Heat losing game three last night. I think they'll win game four.

I still think they can win this series in a long one, just outlast Denver and win with their toughness. And then you get Messi. Marlins are in second place too. It isn't all bad in South Florida.

No, not at all. It's remarkable that basically for a two-week period, there's a championship game on every night here in South Florida. You mentioned tonight Panthers game three, big one against Vegas, 2-0 down in that series. But it's been a ridiculous run. Even the Marlins thing that you mentioned.

Obviously I'm in my MLS bubble and I've got the Heat and the Panthers bandwidth. I woke up on Monday morning and looked at the status. I go, the Marlins good?

When did this happen? Completely flew under the radar for me. So yeah, it's been a bonkers period. But to me it does sort of show the potential of what Miami can be as a sport today. I know Miami is a sport city.

It takes a lot of criticism. But the Miami Heat are obviously a spectacular organization. I've always been surprised that the Panthers haven't been able to attract a good hockey team consistently for basically as long as I've been alive. And then Miami, honestly, when it comes to soccer and MLS, this is what the potential of the club always was.

This is why David Beckham spent years. MLS spent years sort of bending over backwards to make sure that Miami could get into the league because this is what it could be. And this is even without a permanent stadium that is going to be built soon in downtown Miami.

And this is playing in Fort Lauderdale for the interim. So I think the attraction of this club and David Beckham and all of it is why Messi is here and why MLS and Miami always had huge potential. I think Miami, once they fully get going here with Messi, can sort of build from strength to strength here and honestly become one of the biggest clubs in the league, if not the biggest club in the league with their ability to attract that top level talent. What is the potential of Messi in what his abilities are and what he can do for Major League Soccer? It's a really good question because I do think that obviously Lionel Messi, in my view, is the greatest soccer player to have ever lived. He just won the World Cup. He's going to win a Ballon d'Or for the eighth time for having won the World Cup with Argentina.

And this is obviously a player who has been a force multiplier. I believe in one season he had to combine 105 goals and assists in one season for Barcelona. This is a player who can do absolutely everything, even this past year, which is viewed as something of a disappointment for him with Paris Saint-Germain.

He played 41 games with 21 goals and 20 assists. So it's basically contributing to a goal every game. So he's stepping into a league in which there has never been a greater discrepancy between his level of talent and the talent that he'll be playing against. The question is, how will it coalesce with the players that are already there and with the players that will be acquired? Because I also think that Messi is obviously, just by virtue of the money that's being spent on each MLS team, the salary cap, he will step into a situation that will be a level of player that he's never played with before. He's never played with players like the ones he will encounter, who has never played a style like the style that he will encounter in Major League Soccer. So it'll be an adjustment period for him. And I do sort of wonder if he can just sort of step in, be above it all, find the space that nobody else can find, and just completely dictate the game and tear teams apart.

I would not be surprised by that whatsoever. I also wouldn't really be that surprised if it took some getting used to, because MLS does take some getting used to. I know that that sounds bizarre for a player of Messi's quality, but getting used to your teammates, getting used to the conditions. Remember, he's jumping into playing league season in late July in South Florida, and it's going to be absolutely scorching hot. And the travel and going from climate to climate, style to style, even country to country at times when you're traveling to go play the teams in Canada. So it's a completely different environment than any that he's been used to.

So we've seen players struggle with it, but those players usually aren't as good as Messi. So I really am genuinely fascinated to see how that adjustment works out. Chris Winningham is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show, Inter Miami ads, Lionel Messi. It just, I mean, Chris doesn't even need an alarm clock anymore.

It's just exciting to get up every single morning. Real quick, could they get Tata Martino as manager? I know that there's an opening now. Who's going, I mean, it's important to get the right guy for Messi. He's got to respect who you bring in. Yeah, it's important to say that that process is only just beginning. Phil Neville was only just let go a little more than a week ago.

And so they are definitely searching. My guess is they'll want to get a permanent manager in before the end of the season. And Tata Martino's name has been thrown out there, has been linked by the athletic among other credible outlets. And I would not be surprised if he became the Miami manager, but I think they're going to look at other guys. The interesting thing to me is the relationship that Martino had with Messi because he has managed him twice, both for Argentina and for Barcelona for a brief period as well. It wasn't always sort of, you know, sunshine and flowers between them.

But from everything that I've heard, it seems like that relationship is still pretty decent and could be a good working relationship. And remember, Tata Martino took over Atlanta United when they were an expansion team, got them into the playoffs in their first season, played the most exciting brand of soccer in the league, and then in the second season won the whole thing, won MLS Cup. So it's remarkable how quickly he put together a team from scratch, which in some ways he'll kind of be doing here in Miami.

Yeah, the studs are there, right? It's not quite building an entire house, but they're still big name players to come even beyond Messi. And building that all around him, I think, will take a lot of structure building. And he did that very quickly at Miami. So I would not be surprised if it's him. I think even if Messi didn't come, I think he would have been probably one of the favorites to take over this job. He likes working in Major League Soccer, and Miami seems like a perfect fit for him to jump into. So I think even without Messi, that would have been a possibility now that he's here. He seems like the perfect pedigree, obviously the same nationality as Messi, both Argentinian. And there's just a lot of things that would seem to go in his favor. Who is the next coach of the men's national team for the U.S., Chris?

That is a great question. I still think Jesse Marsh is probably the favorite. The former Leeds manager, New York Rebels manager. But his name sort of keeps getting floated out there with European clubs. I think he has one of the best agents in the world, because any time a job comes open, Jesse Marsh's name gets thrown out. Monaco was thrown out.

Celtic was thrown out. He was nearly appointed by two Premier League clubs, so they got all the way to the finish line. But there's just something in me that thinks that Jesse Marsh, who was nearly hired by the current sporting director of U.S. soccer at Southampton, later on in the season, I just get the feeling that they're going to bring him in.

If it's not him, I honestly don't have a clue, because we haven't seen any leaks. And to me, the question with that job sort of comes down to what the budget for U.S. soccer is. Because they can go out and get some big name, free Asian manager from Europe if they want to spend $20 million a year.

But I'm not certain that's the ballpark that U.S. soccer are playing in. I don't know if they're going for coaches with big European pedigree or managers that have a connection to the game. I think someone like Patrick Vieira would make a ton of sense. He's managed in Europe and also had a good run with New York City as well, so he kind of understands the American game as well.

He would seem to have good credentials, in my view. But I honestly don't know the pool that U.S. soccer are swimming in here. I don't know what kind of money they're willing to put up for a manager in a World Cup cycle where you're hosting the World Cup in three years' time. They can go and take a huge big swing, and I'd be genuinely surprised. Or they can kind of go from the pool of candidates that are the best American coaches, which in my view are probably Jesse Marsh, Jim Curtin in Philadelphia Union, and maybe one or two others.

All right, final thing. Good luck to your Manchester City on Saturday in the Champions League final against Inter Milan. They're probably the favorite. We know they're the favorite, and this is just as good a team as I can recall seeing. I know there have been better historically, but man, with the talent that they've got and Pep Guardiola, I just don't know how you beat him.

Right, and all those things make sense, but City Brain, to me, it just sort of feels like they've been here before. They've lost to worse teams in the Champions League. They went out to Lyon in the quarterfinal in the COVID season, which is a disaster. The route to the final there was so easy, and they completely bottled it.

But every sort of expectation that I've had of City along the way, oh, maybe this is the time that they get it wrong. I mean, the second leg against Real Madrid, they were stunningly good, and it sort of felt like the kind of performance where it's a, all right, we're putting all of the nonsense in the past to rest. But the thing is, is that it's a 90-minute game, and Inter are sort of very good in this underdog situation. They can frustrate Manchester City. They can get into the second half and nil-nil, and then you're sort of in that pressure mode, which every Man City fan on the planet will be incredibly nervous as to what happens in that scenario. Because we all have this PTSD with the Champions League, because Man City have been close. They've been the favorites.

They've been the fancy team for five years now, and they haven't managed to get over the line, because it's a really tough competition to win. So the rational brain feels like it should be a win, but the emotional brain is very nervous. I will always, for as long as I live, I will be nervous about Manchester City and the Champions League. You'll celebrate responsibly, I know that.

Chris Whittingham. I do have a game to call immediately after, so it will be a sober Champions League final for me. I'll be watching it at a bar in Foxborough, asking for waters, and then heading over to Gillette Stadium to call New England Revolution and enter Miami on Saturday. MLS season pass on Apple TV. You might want to get that now that we know Messi is coming to this part of the world.

Especially since that helps Messi make his money. Thank you very much, Chris. I appreciate your time. We'll talk again. Cheers, Adam. I'm Chris Whittingham, and I'll see you next time.