Argentina manager Edgardo Bauza said he only had a light conversation about football with Lionel Messi on Thursday, but did not ask the Barcelona star to return to the Albiceleste.
Messi, 29, announced his retirement from the national team after he missed a penalty during a shootout defeat to Chile in this summer’s Copa America Centenario final, in what was a third consecutive loss in a major final for Argentina.
The senior national team, now coached by Bauza after Gerardo Martino’s resignation, are third in their 2018 World Cup qualification group and face key matches in September against Uruguay and Venezuela.
Bauza has said he is confident he`ll be able to coax Messi back, but on Thursday, he told reporters that he didn’t mention a return to the national team during his first conversation with Messi in Barcelona.
‘We didn`t speak about his return. We just had a little talk about football,’ Bauza told Ole. ‘I’ll be calling him in a few days.’
Bauza, who flew to the Catalan city on Wednesday specifically to speak with Messi and his teammate Javier Mascherano, watched Messi score twice as Barcelona defeated Sampdoria 3-2 in the annual Joan Gamper Trophy match at the Camp Nou.
Bauza is expected to return to Argentina on Friday, which is the deadline to submit squads for the September qualifying matches.
Messi’s retirement shocked world and Argentine football, with Argentina legend Diego Maradona and national president Mauricio Macri among those calling on him to reconsider.
The federation, led by Julio Grondona since the 1970s, has been in turmoil since the late FIFA senior vice president died in 2014.
In June, FIFA stepped in and named a committee to run the federation`s daily affairs with a mandate that elections must be held by July 2017.
Maradona claimed that the current chaos within the Argentina federation was institutional and that Messi was right to call out the federation during the Copa America Centenario.
Maradona also blamed the Argentina federation for the country’s early group-stage exit from the Rio Olympics.
He said he doubted Bauza would be able to convince Messi to return.
‘I think Messi is going to tell him no,’ Maradona said.
‘That is my personal opinion and maybe I am wrong. We must beg him to return, but I feel as though they are rushing things. Everything is still so recent and in addition, there are other things they need to fix.’