Inter Miami turn to Kily González as next head coach amid slump and Hoyos exit
Inter Miami are finalising the hire of former Argentina international Cristian 'Kily' González as their new head coach, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations, with journalist César Luis Merlo first to report the news The Guardian.
The appointment ends interim manager Guillermo Hoyos's time in charge. Hoyos stepped in after Javier Mascherano resigned for personal reasons on 14 April, several weeks after the club crashed out of the Concacaf Champions Cup — the regional competition for North and Central American sides — on aggregate to Nashville SC in the last 16. Before taking the top job, Hoyos had been an assistant, having originally joined the club as head of methodology for its academy.
Some credit Hoyos with discovering Lionel Messi when he coached a Barcelona youth squad in the early 2000s. That connection lent his interim spell a certain romance. The results, though, told a harder story. Since returning from MLS's World Cup break, Inter Miami have won three times in nine games and were riding a five-match winless run — the final four of those results coming with Messi on the field. MLS also suspended Hoyos for one game over the club's repeated violations of the league's late kickoff policy.
Messi himself returned to action after the death of his father, Jorge. That the club's worst stretch of the season coincided with his comeback only sharpened the sense that something needed to change.
González brings his own Argentine threads to the job. He hails from Rosario — Messi's hometown — and earned 56 caps for Argentina. His final two appearances came in 2005 World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Peru, matches in which a teenage Messi also featured. The shared background will invite comparisons, but González's managerial record is modest. He has taken charge of Rosario Central (2020–2022), Unión (2023–2025), and Platense for 14 games last year, and was dismissed as Rosario Central's coach after a 1-0 defeat to Newell's TyC Sports. His career win percentage sits at 32.5%, and he has lost more games than he has won at every stop. He was also among the candidates considered by Boca Juniors after coach Fernando Gago's departure in 2025 TyC Sports.
For Inter Miami, the stakes are clear. They won MLS Cup last season, beating Vancouver in the final, and loaded up over the winter with Sergio Reguilón, 2025 MLS goalkeeper of the year Dayne St Clair, Monterrey striker Germán Berterame, and Brazilian midfielder Casemiro. On paper it is one of the deepest rosters in the league. Yet they trail Nashville by 10 points in the Eastern Conference and sit third in the Supporters' Shield — the regular-season title race.
González will be expected to turn talent into points, and fast.
