I was curious to know if its worth for Leo to go to the 2026 WC so I did some research to see what their squad can look like for the next tournament. He'll definitely not be starter material, but he can slot in as part of the 26-man squad.
Looking over Argentina's present&future, I'm surprised that they have a lot of upcoming talents. Their team is not in the slightest bad right now or in 2 years time, and if 3-4 of those prospects confirm in Europe things are looking positive.
GK: GOAT Dibu will be 33 by then so Argentina is in good hands, if nothing bad happens.
Defence: Romero/Lisandro Martinez will be in their prime playing for top clubs in England. Martinez Quarta could be useful as CB/RB backup.
Otamendi will probably be gone as he'll be 38 by then, or be 3rd/4th CB choice. Valentin Gomez (21 yrs old playing for Velez) seems like the only promising young CB atm.
The LB position will probably still be covered by Tagliafico & Acuna. Valentin Barco(19 years old) is promising but he has a lot of growth to do, he only joined Brighton this spring. 2 years could change him a lot for better or worse if he stagnates.
For RB I guess Montiel is still the starter seeing as there's no upcoming talent in that position. Molina only as a backup.
Seems like they have a few promising CDMs besides the already established ones.
Alan Varela, 23 years old CDM for Porto could be part of the squad by then. He's a guaranteed starter there.
Ezequiel Fernandez, 21 years old playing for River Plate. Could earn a move to Europe soon.
Santiago Hezze, 22 years old playing for Olympiakos. Won the Conference League, could get a transfer in the future seeing that Greek clubs usually sell those kind of players. Guy also has Polish citizenship, so we could see a Matty Cash change of heart depending on how he feels.
Maximo Perrone(21 years old playing for City, could move to another team since he has no chance against Rodri), but his time at City could still help him grew, see Julian who was a backup but was a good partner for Messi in 2022.
Mac Allister & Enzo Fernandez will both likely be in the prime of their careers aswell. Palacios is also there, and De Paul will only be 32 so they are stacked.
They are also stacked in the number 10 position if we talk about talent, however most of them still have a lot to prove and are not starters for their parent club. Dybala could be a starter as he's "only 30" right now and had a decent season. Some interesting prospects are:
Claudio Echeverri, 18 years old CAM playing for River Plate but got purchased by City. The newest "new" Messi? Seems highly praised and will join City in 2025 but I dont know if he's going to play at City. Probably a loan the next summer?
Thiago Almada turned 23 and joined Botafogo from the MLS. Weird move but after doing a litte research, he will join Lyon next summer as both clubs have same owner.
Valentin Carboni is another hope as he's 19 years old and belongs to Inter. He played a full season for Monza but is obviously not good yet for top level, might get a few loans for the next 2-3 years.
Facundo Buonanotte another promising 19 years old who plays for Brighton.
Nico Paz really needs to move away from Madrid since he has no chance to grow there. Only 19 still so its only up to him.
On the wings only two promising so far:
Matias Soule(RW, can also play in the middle) is only 21 and can be part of the next tournament.
Gianluca Prestianni, another 18 years old RW playing for Benfica atm. Probably too young to make any big moves for now.
In attack Lautaro & Julian Alvarez will both be in their prime, so they are covered for another decade or so. They could probably do with another striker, preferably a taller one to offer a plan B. Problem is they only seem to grow Lautaro/Aguero clones right now
Some promising options:
Lucas Beltran, 23 years old who had his first season in Europe at Fiorentina. Can also play behind as Second Striker.
Santiago Castro, 19 years old who joined Bologna this spring. Both of them seem to be playing like Lautaro.
Alejo Veliz, 20 years old belonging to Spurs. Will likely have a difficult time to get minutes there but who knows, maybe another loan could help him.
Seeing the multitude of options they have in midfield&attack, they could try to play in a diamong formation with 2 combining midgets upfront.
Again, if only 3-4 players from those can become reliable options for the senior team, then it's all good. Argentina can be among the favorites, besides the likes of France & Spain.
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