Bottom of the table and no head coach: Lionel Messi is walking into a mess at Inter Miami

Most people are aware of how Inter Miami came to be. When David Beckham signed with the LA Galaxy in 2007, part of the deal included the right to buy his own team at a cut-rate price. Beckham exercised that option to put a team in Miami and, after several years of political battles over the stadium situation, Inter Miami arrived in 2020.

From the start, the club looked to capture the glitz and glamor of both its owner and its city. Miami has long been an ideal tourist destination for some of the world's biggest stars, and the club promised that it would attract those stars in time.

The club went young for its first few big signings, but quickly brought in the superstar names in Gonzalo Higuain and Blaise Matuidi. However, in 2021, the club was punished for the Matuidi signing, which was not done in compliance with MLS rules. As a result, the club played the 2021 and 2022 seasons under financial sanctions.

Those sanctions, and some missteps in the initial roster build, have limited the club's rise in MLS. After finishing 10th and 11th in their first two seasons, Inter Miami made the postseason in 2022 with a sixth-place finish, before being unceremoniously dumped out in the opening round.

After that loss, Higuain retired and, with Matuidi long out of the picture, the club entered 2023 with a shorthanded roster and lacking a bit of starpower, even with the arrival of former MLS MVP Josef Martinez.

While Inter Miami were obviously focused on building a strong team, it is fair to say that the club always had one eye looking across the Atlantic at Messi. The club made no secret of its ambitions and, for years, those ambitions have centered around the Argentine. Owner Jorge Mas spoke several times about his desire to lure Messi to Miami. In some ways, it feels like the club's whole history has led to this moment.

Since Messi's Barcelona exit, the club has been in contact with his entourage, trying desperately to sell him on the project. Perhaps the most interesting thing about that project is that it is one Messi can build in his own image. This isn't a team with years of history and unprecedented success; this is a new club that he can instantly define.

Because of that, Messi will no doubt know what he will be walking into. He didn't sign up to instantly win trophies, and he didn't sign up to necessarily compete at the top of the game. MLS, for all its recent growth, isn't yet one of the world's top leagues, and Inter Miami is nowhere near one of the league's top on-field clubs.

Miami's recruitment pitch was never about what the club is or has been because, to put it bluntly, it hasn't been very good on the field. Rather, the pitch was on what this club could be with a figurehead like Messi leading the charge.

For the club's initial season, Inter Miami turned to Diego Alonso to be its first-ever head coach. He arrived with a strong reputation from his time in Liga MX with Pachuca and Monterrey.

After that first season, though, Alonso was gone, replaced by Phil Neville. It was the former England star's first senior men's head coaching role, having previously managed England's women's team and, from the start, there were questions as to whether or not Beckham's long-time team-mate deserved the role.

Neville, in truth, was dealt a poor hand. The club was never able to really build the superstar roster it promised due to the financial limitations. And, after some initial friction with Higuain, Neville ended up getting the best out of him as the Argentine went on one final tear before retiring.

However, the start of the 2023 season went too poorly for Neville to continue. After winning four and losing 11 of the club's first 15 games, Neville was dismissed. He was replaced by ex-MLS midfielder Javier Morales, who has taken over on an interim basis.

The most immediate link to the Inter Miami job was Gerardo 'Tata' Martino, a manager that is very, very familiar with what Messi brings. Martino managed Messi with both Barcelona and Argentina, giving him both the personal relationship and overall experience of managing arguably the game's biggest star. He's currently out of a job, having left Mexico after a disappointing World Cup group stage exit.

Martino is also an admirer of MLS, having fallen in love with the league during his time with Atlanta United, where he won MLS Cup. “MLS is my weakness,” Martino told The Athletic earlier this year. “I was part of an extraordinary project with Atlanta United that had a clear direction, a lot of communication and similar objectives that were established very quickly and executed. After coaching in MLS, I became attracted to it. I like the league. The possibility of returning to MLS is always there."

Martino or no Martino, Messi will certainly be given a lot of say in who comes in as the club's next manager.

Like with the manager, Messi will likely have some say in the team around him in the coming years. Names like Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba have already been linked, although signing any of those names would require some salary cap maneuvering.

For now, though, let's just look at what Messi is walking into, not what it could be. Miami has some solid attacking pieces in Martinez, a former MLS MVP, and Leonardo Campana, a 22-year-old Ecuador international that hit double-digit goals last year. Both would, obviously, benefit from playing with Messi.

Martinez is one of Miami's three Designated Players, alongside Gregore and Rodolfo Pizarro, although the latter has long been linked with an exit after going out on loan last season. Gregore's contract can likely be bought down, opening up a DP spot for Messi.

Gregore, though, is out of action through September, leaving a massive hole in the midfield. That hole got even wider when Jean Mota suffered a knee injury in May that could keep him out for the rest of the season.

Messi will be walking into a team without its two key midfield stars, a fact which has been apparent since the start the season. He'll arrive at a team near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, although there's always reason for hope in the wild world of MLS.

No team is ever really buried in MLS, especially one that will be adding Lionel Messi midseason. While Messi may not be able to win it all by himself, he could very well be good enough to single-handedly get Miami to the postseason.

As things stand, Miami are last in the Eastern Conference, but just six points out of a playoff spot. This weekend will be the halfway point, meaning that, when Messi arrives in July, he'll have a decent chunk of the season left to lift Miami towards the postseason. From there, anything can happen, as we all know. In MLS, the key is often getting to the dance and seeing what happens.

The club is also involved in other competitions, having won their U.S. Open Cup clash with Birmingham Legion on Wednesday night. That booked their spot in the semi-final against FC Cincinnati, leaving them just two wins away from their first trophy.

There's also the Leagues Cup upcoming, which will see MLS sides do battle with their Liga MX counterparts. Some early reports have claimed Messi's debut may come in that competition, when Miami face Cruz Azul on July 21.

Regardless of when and where he debuts, it'll be a show. That show will go on throughout his time in MLS. Messi, from the start, will be an incredible attraction, one which will sell out stadiums all over the country and lift MLS into a new stratosphere off the field.

On the field, though, he's joining a team that is still very much a work in progress. Could the likes of Suarez, Busquets or Alba follow to help lift the level even more? Sure, but, regardless of who comes in, it is clear that Miami will need to put new pieces around Messi if they hope to contend for the MLS Cup someday.

Miami may have Messi, but the key to all of this will now be surrounding him with whatever he needs to take this club where it wants to go.