Former president of the Argentine Football Association Regularization Commission, Armando Pérez, recently made some explosive comments surrounding the future of the Argentina national team.
The current manager of La Albiceleste is Lionel Scaloni. However, Pérez did reveal during an interview with Radio Rivadavia (via Marca Claro) that should he stumble at any point, the first person that will be tapped to take over is former FC Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano.
“Do you ask me if Mascherano is in this position of the National Team in case Scaloni stumbles? What do you think,” Pérez said.
Furthermore, the former president went on to say that Mascherano has used his friendship with Lionel Messi to give himself a more prominent voice when it comes to various issues on the Argentina national team.
“There were references from the Argentine National Team who used the image of Messi to give their opinion; Mascherano was the main one,” Pérez said.
“Mascherano used his friendship with Messi to comment on many things in the National Team, including coaches. No one told me; I saw it.”
Scaloni is getting results at the Copa America, but not many are happy with the national team’s playing style as they struggle to produce goals.
Nonetheless, Argentina appears to be qualifying easily for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, so unless those in charge want to change how the national team plays, it seems like Scaloni is the guy.