Argentina Football Federation (AFA) president Claudio Tapia said no decision has been made regarding Jorge Sampaoli’s future. TyC Sport reported that Sampaoli’s lawyer, Fernando Baredes, has been summoned to a meeting at AFA’s headquarters in Buenos Aires on Friday.
But when asked about Sampaoli’s status prior to a meeting with AFA executives, Tapia was brief.
“Sampaoli is the national team coach and has a contract,” he said.
Under contract until June 2022, Sampaoli was criticised following Argentina’s poor showing at the World Cup, where they were eliminated by France in the round of 16.
Sampaoli met with Tapia on Monday, and after the meeting, the AFA announced he will manage Argentina’s under-20 team in the L’Alcudia tournament this month, at which point his status would be re-evaluated.
However, Ole reported that Sampaoli and Tapia had a heated argument during that meeting, as Sampaoli does not consider managing the U20 side to be his responsibility and wants to hand responsibility to assistant coach Lionel Scaloni.
According to the report, the AFA now wants to reach an agreement with Sampaoli’s lawyer in order to terminate the coach’s contract and have offered to pay him until the end of the year. The AFA reportedly want to avoid paying $8.62 million to Sampaoli as compensation if they decide to sack him now.
Sampaoli, who guided Chile to the 2015 Copa America title, has won seven of 16 games since leaving Sevilla to take the reins of Argentina in May 2017.