Sampaoli to meet Leo Messi as he starts tour of Europe
The coach wants to speak to the players who will be in his World Cup squad
Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli will start a long tour of Europe on Friday to meet the players he will pick for his World Cup squad.
His first stop is Barcelona where he will meet with Lionel Messi, the undoubted star of the national team. The coach is also expected to watch Barcelona’s game against Real Madrid on May 6.
Samapoli will have two weeks in Europe, and is set to visit seven countries to speak to over 20 players.
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After speaking with those players currently in Argentina who could go to the World Cup (Armani, Enzo Perez, Pablo Perez, Pavon, Bustos, Lautaro Martinez and Meza), he will go to Spain, Italy, Holland, France, Portugal and England before offering his long list of 35 players up on May 14.
After Barcelona he will go to Sevilla (Banega and Mercado), Liverpool (Funes Mori), Manchester (Romero, Rojo, Agüero, Otamendi), London (Lansing, Caballero, Lamela), Amsterdam (Tagliafico), Paris (Di Maria, Lo Celso), Roma (Perotti and Fazio), Turin (Dybala, Higuaín), Milan (Icardi and Biglia), and Lisbon (Acuna and Salvio).
Meanwhile he is not expected to go to Russia, where Kranevitter, Paredes and Rigoni are, nor to China to speak to Javier Mascherano.
