Lionel Messi to link-up with Pep Guardiola? Sergio Aguero drops huge 'Argentina national coach' prediction
Sergio Aguero made a prediction on if Pep Guardiola would take over as Argentina head coach and link-up with Lionel Messi.
Lionel Messi created history last year, when he led Argentina to FIFA World Cup glory in Qatar. The former Barcelona player scored a goal in the final, which ended 3-3 after extra-time and was decided via penalties. The Argentina captain is part of Lionel Scaloni's 2026 World Cup qualification plas and fans will be hoping for him to participate in the tournament.
Messi departed PSG as a free agent in the summer transfer window and was expected to return to Barcelona. But, he joined David Beckham's MLS side Inter Miami in a stunning transfer and has been enjoying his time there. The World Cup trophy was the only missing title in his glittering career and he also received the Best Player of the Tournament award in Qatar.
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It all started off for Messi when Pep Guardiola arrived as Barcelona head coach, and since then the rest is considered to be history. Under Guardiola, Messi won countless individual awards and clinched two Champions League titles, defeating Manchester United in both finals. After Guardiola departed Barcelona, the pair have never lined up again. But former Argentina player Sergio Aguero gave fans some hope.
Speaking to Stake, he said, "Obviously, as an Argentinian, yes, it would be really good if he could be the Argentina national coach but well, I don’t know. And obviously nowadays as I’m an ex-player and looking at it as a fan of the national team, I think that obviously everyone would be happy, right?"
"But, I think that we’ll have to see, where he wants to go, which challenge he wants it to be, what managers want is to take over a country and bring success to it, right? And because, in the end, between Argentina and Spain or to go to Brazil or Germany or Italy, those teams, or England, they’re historic teams. You know there is very little margin for error with there being so few games, right? And I think that with that Pep style of play, in a national team, I think he would miss the training sessions. I mean, the thing of teaching players and coordinating things that he wants to do with a team, it doesn’t have that."
"National teams have two weeks, one week and the players come in tired after they’ve travelled and I think in that sense, Pep could end up thinking, no, I’m not going to go into it, it puts me in a predicament or I’d prefer to go ahead and do it this way. It’s not his decision, it’s everyone’s but obviously, everyone will respect the decision he makes. This won’t change his style of play at all if I know him, whether for better or worse, he will keep doing his way", he further added.
The Spaniard's contract with Manchester City ends in the summer of 2025, just a year before the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Lately, he has been linked to the England job, with Gareth Southgate's contract ending after Euro 2024.
