-
Jeff Carlisle
Inter Miami‘s president of football operations Raúl Sanllehí is no longer in charge of sporting matters and has been replaced by the club’s academy director Guillermo Hoyos, a source confirmed to ESPN.
The news was first reported by GiveMeSport. Sanllehí has been reassigned within the Inter Miami organization.
GiveMeSport’s report detailed how during the team’s recent trip to Las Vegas, Sanllehí entered a bus containing Miami players and staff, and was confronted by star forward Lionel Messi and the two had an “exchange of words.”
Inter Miami didn’t respond to a request for comment from ESPN, but in a statement to GiveMeSport, a spokesperson said, “Raúl’s move was pre-planned, in coordination with the closing of the window at the end of January and the many activities that the team has with the Club World Cup, World Cup and other matters pertaining to institutional relations.”
A source told ESPN that Inter Miami staff was informed of the decision to promote Hoyos last Thursday.
Hoyos, 61, has had an itinerant managerial career, one that has seen him coach over a dozen teams across Europe and South America as well as a brief stint in 2015 with the Jacksonville Armada, then of the North American Soccer League. More critically, he has a long history with Messi, having coached the player when he was with Barcelona’s under-18 team from 2000-03, with Messi stating in a 2010 interview that Hoyos was his “footballing dad.”
Hoyos was hired as director of methodology of Miami’s academy shortly after Messi arrived. Sanllehí was hired just last summer, hastening the departure of sporting director Chris Henderson to Atlanta United, and director of scouting Mark Prizant to San Diego FC.
The move speaks to Messi’s continued influence in front office matters. Longtime teammate Javier Mascherano was hired to manage the team for 2025 following the departure of Tata Martino after the end of the 2024 campaign.
Miami owner Jorge Mas had confirmed that Messi had “input” in the hiring of Mascherano.