‘We have a responsibility to make sure the fans feel well represented on the field when our big stars aren’t playing,’ Martino said (via the Miami Herald).

‘If the fans know that for different reasons Leo (Messi) won’t be there or Busi (Sergio Busquets) won’t be there or Jordi (Alba), but we will have a very competitive team, that is an important message.

He said this while adding that he’ll look to rest Lionel Messi throughout the whole season.

‘The best players are usually on the field, but we also must make sure our team is healthy and can last an entire season. That was difficult last season, the issue of if we were selling more tickets or fewer tickets, people wanting to know who was playing.

‘I would love for them to play every single game, but we can’t be worried about ticket sales. If they are healthy, they will play the majority of the games.’

On the surface, that statement seems a somewhat flippant remark. Last season, fans doled out hundreds – even thousands – of dollars for the chance to see Messi take the field.

That’s carried over to this season as Inter Miami have jacked up prices for both single-game and season tickets to a staggering amount. The cheapest season ticket doubled from $485 last season to $884 this season.

Season tickets in lower level seats jumped to $7,650 – up from about $3,600 the year before. Despite these drastic increases, all of Inter’s season tickets are sold out.

That’s led to some scalpers being incredibly greedy and jacking up the prices for individual games on second hand markets.

For Messi’s debut last season, some tickets were being sold as high as $20,000 to be in the Argentine’s presence.

For Martino to dismiss that as not worth worry is slightly disrespectful to the fans who have paid their hard earned money to see the world’s best footballer.

Messi has attracted significant attention as Miami ticket prices have skyrocketed this year.

But with Inter Miami possibly playing up to 67 matches this year, Messi will need that rest.

But there’s a flip side to that. If Inter Miami progresses to the final of every competition they play in – MLS Cup, the US Open Cup, the Leagues Cup, and the Concacaf Champions Cup – they could wind up playing between 65-67 matches this season. That’s one game every five days in a 365 day period.

That’s a heavy workload for any footballer, let alone Lionel Messi – who’s about to turn 37 this year.

Now, even without the rest implication from Martino, Messi won’t be playing all these games for Inter Miami. Part of that is because he’ll be playing for Argentina.

With the Copa America, Messi is guaranteed to miss two matches and could be gone for up to five. That doesn’t include any other international friendlies or breaks before that tournament, nor does it include CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying in September, October, and November.

MLS will still be playing throughout that as the league continues to bury its head in the sand when it comes to playing in the midst of international breaks.