X-ray of the new recharged Inter Miami: the Argentine legionnaire and the faces that join the last dance of Messi, Jordi, Suárez and Busquets

“Pressure? None! We have improved enough to compete. We have made a big change. We are a great team, with many names it’s true, but we have to prove it on the pitch. It won’t be easy. We all hope we can win a tournament. But it won’t be easy. The rivals will arrive with the motivation to beat us as happened with Barcelona.” Jordi Alba He made the message clear just hours before the start of a new MLS season. Lionel Messi and its InterMiami They are aiming for the maximum in 2024. Tonight, from 10 pm in Argentina, the big premiere will take place.

The statement from the Catalan defender, one of the stars of the team that will debut on Wednesday against Real Salt Lake, raises an obvious question What has changed? The most important variable, beyond the frenetic tour in Asia which changed the pre-season but at the same time generated a lot of profits, is the working time available to the coach. Gerardo Martinoor with your group of players. We must not forget that Tata, like Messi, arrived last year and got into a walking car. Now the project starts from scratch.

But there was also a change of interpreters. In this transfer market, Rosario’s coach made some changes to the squad -or roster, as it is called here-. Eight players left and four arrived. The arithmetic is eloquent: it has fewer pieces, but the idea is that they fit together better. And that’s what he was looking for.

For starters, and as is known, now those are four stratospheric figuress which has the franchise owned by the brothers Jorge and José Más Canosa AND by David Beckham. Messi is the standard bearer of the soccer revolution here in South Florida and is still accompanied by his Spanish squires Jordi Alba AND Sergio Busquets, 35 years. But a new star has been added to this constellation with the arrival of the Uruguayan Luis Suarez. There are four fantastic ones that design a sort of vintage Barcelona, ​​now painted pink. They are friends, they are companions and they understand each other like almost no one else on a playing field.

They will, of course, be the backbone. Journalist Carlos Arasaki’s #YoJuguéConMessi compilation clearly shows the chemistry these four players have. Messi played 570 games with Busquets – he is the one with whom he shared the pitch the most -, 355 with Alba and 256 with Suárez, who has almost 500 goals scored in his backpack, of which 195 paired with La Pulga.

Surgical reinforcements

On the other hand, with much less noise than the Uruguayan Gunslinger, Three more players have arrived at Inter Miami. And there we see Martino’s surgical intention to strengthen the starting team and, in turn, think about the future. The Argentinian’s name Nicolas Freire He wasn’t on almost anyone’s radar.. But Tata had him in mind and went looking for him to strengthen the defense. The central scorer, 30 years old, emerged in the Argentinos Juniors and there he began to show his good condition. So much that caught the attention of the citizen groupwho purchased his season ticket and handed it over to the Uruguayan Municipal Torque.

From there he moved to Zwolle in Dutch football and then returned to South America with a short-lived spell with Palmeiras and a slightly longer one with LDU de Quito. He had his best performance at Pumas in Mexico and tried his luck again in Europe – at Olympiacos in Greece – and now ends up in Miami. He will be important with the Ukrainian Serhiy Kryvtsov and the Argentine Tomás Avilés in the last line, one of the main deficits of the last season.

The other important player who brought Martino is Giuliano Gresselthat he knows from his time in Atlanta United. Born in Germany 30 years ago, he plays as a midfielder, preferably inside right, and has just been important in the Columbus Crew, the last MLS champions. His arrival will give some air to Busquets, for whom the central circle seemed huge due to the fast transitions typical of MLS football. They appreciate his talent but also his experience: he has accumulated 210 games in the American championship between his experiences with Atlanta United, Columbus Crew, DC United and Vancouver Whitecaps, with 25 goals and 56 assists.

The last reinforcement is another Argentine, Federico Redondo, announced in the last few hours after long negotiations. It’s a mini Busquets, which will also give him balance and come out of the center. The midfielder comes from being an important player of the Argentine Under-23 national team led by Javier Mascherano who qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics. He is 21 years old and is a big bet: they paid eight million dollars for 75% of his potato fried.

The randomness

The category of victims is broader. Brazilian midfielder Gregore de Magalhaes, Colombian striker Emerson Rodriguez Valois, Venezuelan striker Josef Martinez, Swedish defender Chris McVey, Argentine midfielder Nicolás Stefanelli, Canadian defender Kamal Miller, Dutch goalkeeper Nick Marsman, Costa Rican midfielder Cameron left Johnson Cruz. Of all of them, the ones who played the most were Miller and Martínez. But their places were better filled, a priori, by Freire and Suárez.

The new Inter Miami is coming. Recharged. A new dream begins for Messi. “The team we want will only be seen on the third or fourth date”, warns Martino. But he does it with a smile. He knows that only now, in addition to winning the Leagues Cup, will he begin his work as a goldsmith for the MLS all-star team.