goalkeeper Franco Armani (River Plate); defenders Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United) and Juan Foyth (Villarreal); Midfielder Alejandro “Papu” Gomez (Sevilla) and strikers Angel Correa (Atletico de Madrid), Lautaro Martinez (Inter) and Paulo Dybala (Roma) are not in the squad.
Three of these absences are for physical reasons: Lisandro Martinez is recovering from a broken foot, Dybala has an ankle problem that casts doubt on his participation in Wednesday’s Europa League final, and Lautaro Martinez will undergo treatment for an old ankle problem. , after playing with Inter in the Champions League final.
The biggest novelties in the squad, which includes captain Lionel Messi, are goalkeeper Walter Benitez from the Netherlands’ PSV Eindhoven and centre-back Leonardo Balerdi from the French Olympique de Marseille.
The 30-year-old Benitez, with a past in Quilmes in Argentine football (2012–2016), received his first call to the premiership after registering participation in the 2013 South American U-20.
The goalkeeper joined the Dutch club this season after an impressive six years at France’s Nice.
On the other hand, Balerdi (24) has already been called up twice by Scaloni for two friendly tours in 2019. His debut came from the substitute bench in the United States’ 4–0 win over Mexico in San Antonio and the second match against Ecuador (6–1) in Elche, Spain.
Compared to the Qatar 2022 squad, the Argentina national team will see the return of Facundo Medina, Giovanni Lo Celso, Lucas Ocampos, Giovanni Simeone, Alejandro Garnacho and Nicolas Gonzalez.
Garnacho, who was ruled out for the U-20 World Cup in Argentina, will have the chance to add his first minutes to the main squad along with other projection youngsters after joining the group last year.
The Manchester United winger was also called up in the country in previous calls for friendlies against Panama and Curacao, but ultimately did not appear due to a muscle ailment.
The following is a full list of Argentina selection summonses:
Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa, England), Geronimo Rulli (Ajax, Netherlands) and Walter Benitez (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands).
Defenders: Nahuel Molina (Atletico Madrid, Spain), Gonzalo Montiel (Sevilla, Spain), German Pezzela (Betis, Spain), Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur, England), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympic de Marseille, France), Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica ) , Portugal), Facundo Medina (Lens, France), Nicolás Tagliafico (Olympique de Lyon, France) and Marcos Acuña (Seville).
Midfielders: Leandro Paredes (Juventus, Italy), Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea, England), Guido Rodriguez (Betis), Rodrigo De Paul (Atletico de Madrid), Exaquiel Palacios (Bayern Leverkusen, Germany), Alexis McAllister (Brighton, England) , Thiago Almada (Atlanta United, United States) and Giovanni Lo Celso (Villarreal, Spain).
Forwards: Lucas Ocampos (Sevilla), Angel Di Maria (Juventus), Lionel Messi (PSG, France), Julian Alvarez (Manchester City, England), Giovanni Simeone (Napoli, Italy), Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United, England) and Nicolas Gonzalez (Fiorentina, Italy).
Argentina will face a tour of Asia in June which includes a friendly in China against Australia on Thursday the 15th and against Indonesia in that country on Monday the 19th.
These matches will be the last before the South American qualifiers for the next World Cup begin in September. In the first double date, the world champions will be local against Ecuador and then they will travel to La Paz to face Bolivia.
