Walter Samuel to leave Scaloni’s Argentina backroom staff at year end | OneFootball

Walter Samuel, Lionel Scaloni’s assistant with Argentina, will leave the national team’s backroom staff at the end of the year. According to SuperDepor.com, he will not renew his contract as he prepares to become a head coach.

The contracts for Scaloni’s staff, which includes Samuel, Roberto Ayala and Pablo Aimar, expire in December. After losing the 2026 World Cup final to Spain, Scaloni questioned whether he would extend his deal.

Samuel plans to keep learning for a few more months, then seek a managerial job in Europe. As a player he featured for Roma from 2000 to 2004, Real Madrid in 2004-2005, Inter Milan from 2005 to 2014, and Basel from 2014 to 2016.

He is understood to have made the decision months ago, and the uncertainty around Scaloni’s future has reinforced it recently. Over eight years on the Albiceleste staff he helped win two Copas América, the Finalissima and the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

The Argentine FA will attempt to persuade Scaloni to remain beyond December, with the aim of him leading the team at least through one more World Cup. The Pujato native has said he will take time to reflect on whether to continue, and after the Spain defeat he noted that building a group as successful as the one assembled since 2018 is very difficult.

Source: SuperDepor.com

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”