Mascherano has talked to a few MLS teams, seven months after quitting champion Inter Miami

Javier Mascherano won MLS Cup with Inter Miami in December 2025 and walked away four months later. Now he says he has already spoken with a few MLS teams about coming back. "Honestly, it was a very good experience in the United States. I liked MLS a lot," he told USA TODAY Sports. "I've had some chats with a few teams, but right now I prefer not to coach. A bit later on, and we'll see."

He spoke in Dallas at "El Partidazo," a LaLiga watch party for Atlético Madrid against Barcelona, and he made clear the break was never meant to be permanent. "I'll definitely go back to coaching at some point because soccer is my life," he said. "Now, six or seven months after I stopped coaching, I'm seeing if a possibility for the upcoming season comes up."

The reason he gave for leaving in April has not changed. "It was a personal decision. I needed to be closer to my family. Ultimately, I think that's the most important thing we have in life," he said. He left less than a month after Miami's Concacaf Champions Cup exit against Nashville SC, but in the middle of an unbeaten run in MLS play.

What came after him shows how much that title team depended on stability. Guillermo Hoyos moved from the front office to the bench, and Miami won just one of 10 MLS matches between July 31 and September 26, a stretch that followed the World Cup break and coincided with the death of Lionel Messi's father. Cristian "Kily" González replaced Hoyos in mid-September and steadied things, and Miami go into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the East.

Mascherano did not say which clubs he has talked to, and his next job could just as easily be in Argentina or Europe. Before Miami he coached Argentina's U-20 and U-23 teams, working with Nico Paz, Valentín Barco and Agustín Giay, who are now getting chances with the senior side. He also defended Argentina's future after Messi's retirement from the national team: "Argentina has the obligation to compete."

The timing is worth watching. The MLS playoffs start on November 19 and MLS Cup is on December 18, which is about when clubs that miss out start looking at their benches for 2027, and a coach who has already won the league says he's listening.