On June 7, 2023, Leo Messi introduced to the world, by way of a reside interview with Spanish media, his seismic determination to hitch Inter Miami CF. And as a lot euphoria because it triggered round the membership, it additionally set into movement a sequence of heavy lifts for the Herons’ soccer operations workers.
They must ramp up a midseason roster overhaul to offer new head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino with the mandatory parts to reinvent what was at the time a bottom-dwelling staff right into a aggressive squad able to maximizing Messi’s items and the cadre of previous pals and former FC Barcelona teammates who joined him in South Florida.
The acquisition of Diego Gómez by way of MLS’s Under-22 Initiative was one in all the first levers in that course of. And possibly the most profitable to this point, given Wednesday’s announcement that the 21-year-old Paraguayan has been voted as the No. 1 general participant on MLSsoccer.com’s 22 Under 22 offered by BODYARMOR rankings.
For all the sky-high soccer IQ and transcendent high quality Messi, Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba carry, they would wish vitality, work price and youthful vibrance round them if this formidable Miami mission was to really take off.
“We knew we wanted to herald some legs,” Miami’s chief soccer officer and sporting director Chris Henderson defined to MLSsoccer.com final week. “That was one in all our objectives in recruiting the younger gamers – how do they steadiness off one another? What attributes will they add to the remainder of the group?
“Clearly you’ve veterans who’ve performed all the things and received and have expertise. However you wanted to have a man in there who can get round, and he’s that man. Once you take a look at the method we play when Diego Gómez is on the discipline for us, he is a significant weapon for us, and he is been one in all the key gamers on this Supporters’ Protect run.”
Taking part in with legends
After navigating a steep studying curve in his first months at IMCF final yr, Gómez struck up a potent chemistry with Messi and Suárez specifically throughout the 2024 marketing campaign, so usually making the sensible off-ball runs by which their superlative imaginative and prescient unlocks defenses.
That understanding is obvious on the many events on which mixture play amongst them has led to objectives, whether or not the versatile Gómez is working in his most well-liked No. 8 position or deployed additional ahead, disrupting opponents’ buildups and bursting into area to spark attacking transitions.
“Diego’s objective is superlative for the staff tonight, he outlined a move, a objective, a objective from the restoration,” stated Martino in Spanish after Gómez scored the clinching objective in Miami’s opening-day win over Actual Salt Lake in February.
“All he works on is recovering balls; the reality is that for us in the present day he even performed able a little bit extra superior, he did so nearly like a left winger, coming into [the attack] quite a bit, and he settled into that place very nicely and located many balls behind the opposing midfielders. He’s understanding the recreation an increasing number of after which he has the conditioning, each bodily and footballing-wise.”
With a relentless engine and relish for the bodily aspect of the recreation, he additionally provides miles of selfless work on the different aspect of the ball week after week, lowering the calls for on Busquets and the remainder of the Herons’ rearguard.
“He’s a vital participant,” stated the Spanish legend of Gómez in April, “for all the things he offers us.”
All-around skillset
That well-roundedness is seen and far appreciated by all of his teammates.
“Diego makes all the things straightforward,” Federico Redondo, an everyday central-midfield companion of Gómez, stated in Spanish after a July win over Toronto FC. “He at all times offers you a passing choice, he recovers the ball, he offers it to you. I’ve no phrases for such a participant – enjoying with individuals like that at all times makes it simpler for you.”
Gómez has additionally blossomed right into a game-changer at the worldwide degree this yr, spearheading Paraguay’s shock title run in the Conmebol Pre-Olympic Match with 5 objectives, then serving to La Albirroja advance out of group play in France whereas carrying the captain’s armband. He took one other large step ahead with a shocking golazo for the senior staff in a 1-0 upset of Brazil in World Cup qualifying motion.
“He comes up in massive moments,” stated Henderson. “As a box-to-box 8, he joins into the assault, he will get into the penalty field, he makes intelligent runs into areas from midfield. He is superb at breaking apart performs as nicely, not solely in the assault, however defensively. He is actually good at form of hooking his foot round to steal balls from gamers’ toes.”
— Main League Soccer (@MLS) September 11, 2024
“He is a game-changer”
Henderson sees echoes of two of his iconic former teammates on the US males’s nationwide staff when he watches Gómez play.
“His change of tempo, his acceleration,” he defined. “You would not take a look at him instantly and go, ‘Oh that man’s actually quick,’ however he is like Claudio Reyna was once, the place unexpectedly he is obtained the ball and he is simply dribbling by individuals, and he is accelerating previous them. And so you’ll be able to actually see throughout video games not solely quick, however how fast he’s, and he is a game-changer.
“After which I might say he is a little bit little bit of a move and transfer [player],” Henderson added. “He also can get out of issues on his personal with simply his first few steps, a little bit bit like Tab Ramos, the place he can speed up into areas with the ball if it is open. So, yeah, he is been superb – adaptable and impactful.”
Gómez can also grow to be a paradigm-shifting case research for Miami in the long term.
The hard-running midfielder has made no secret of his want to check himself in a prime European league. Whereas the attract of enjoying with Messi and dealing beneath Martino have been components in his transfer to Miami, so was the MLS success story of his countryman Miguel Almirón, who lit up the league with Martino at Atlanta United earlier than a record-breaking switch to Newcastle United in 2019.
“The historical past of Almirón coming in and doing so nicely (*22*); Tata’s superb at working with younger gamers, giving them alternatives. I believe his fame with growing gamers is superb, and that is the method it has been this yr. I believe the younger guys have actually stepped up in key moments,” stated Henderson.
“He is a quiet boy, and I really feel like he is at all times watching and observing and soaking issues in,” he added of Gómez, a soft-spoken kind who grew up on a farm in rural southern Paraguay and stays dedicated to his household again residence. “He is actually coachable. He simply form of blends in, and at instances you take a look at him and you are like, wow, he’s so younger, whereas he has such an impression on the discipline, however as an individual and in the group, he is younger and simply keen to study and open.”
5 rising stars, one staff 💗🖤 Proud to have the most gamers amongst all MLS golf equipment in the 22 Under 22 list! Headlined by Diego Gomez at No 1, adopted by Fede, Benja, Toto, and David Ruiz. Felicidades a los pibes 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/Nw6pXO1hyA
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) October 9, 2024
Abroad potential
Whereas nothing has been formally introduced but, Gómez seems set to make a dream transfer this winter. A number of media shops have reported that he’ll transfer to English Premier League aspect Brighton & Hove Albion in a switch deal approaching $20 million, which might rank as one in all the largest such outgoing transactions in each MLS and Paraguayan soccer historical past.
“He’s a footballer who has an excellent current, but in addition a powerful future. So we’ll all be very joyful if he manages to do it,” stated Martino final month, calling such an end result “additionally a small title” for IMCF’s participant improvement outlook.
Talking to media in August, the Argentine coach framed pathways like Gómez’s as Exhibit A of MLS’s evolution right into a globally acknowledged cultivator of prime younger expertise.
“I wish to focus much more on the younger footballers who come to the league and who change the method we take a look at footballers, particularly Latin footballers, South People, the ones who nonetheless aspire to succeed in the first degree,” he stated. “And the first degree, as we at all times say, is in Europe. So we are able to persuade Diego to return right here and develop and full his evolution in a yr, a yr and a half or two years, and he might be offered. That’s, from my viewpoint, fabulous to say; that’s one thing that I’ve considered since my arrival in Atlanta seven years in the past, so I agree with that half, it appears to me that it is extremely necessary for development.”
That’s some legacy for a 21-year-old. The sky’s the restrict for Gómez, and by extension, his rise supplies a route map for others to observe.