Senesi Replaces Balerdi in Argentina's World Cup Squad

Argentina’s World Cup build-up has taken its first major hit. Leonardo Balerdi is out. Marcos Senesi is in. And Lionel Scaloni has had to redraw part of his defensive blueprint on the eve of the tournament.

Balerdi suffered a severe muscle tear in the soleus of his right leg during training, an injury serious enough to end his World Cup before it began. The national team confirmed the diagnosis via social media and press briefings, stating plainly that the defender “will not be able to be part of the squad that will play in the World Cup.”

For Scaloni, it was a jolt. The coaching staff had counted on Balerdi as part of the defensive rotation, and the manager did not rush into a replacement. He pushed back his final decision, choosing to use a pre-tournament friendly against Iceland as a live laboratory to test shapes, partnerships and contingency plans.

“Today’s test left me satisfied and cleared up many doubts regarding what the team might be lacking,” Scaloni said after the game, hinting that the performance had crystallised his thinking. “Maybe I’ll take one or two more days to announce Balerdi’s replacement.”

The delay was deliberate. The stakes are too high, the margins too fine, to simply pull the next name off a list.

In the end, the call went to Senesi. The 29-year-old had been on standby, waiting, training, knowing that his chance might never come. Now he is on a plane to Kansas City, summoned into a camp brimming with world champions and expectation.

It caps a whirlwind 24 hours for the centre-back. Senesi, who has only three caps for Argentina, had already made headlines by agreeing a free transfer to Tottenham, effective July 1. He will join a Premier League club on the rise and, in the process, reunite with future Spurs team-mate Cristian Romero at international level.

For Argentina, that link is no small detail. Romero is already a pillar of the Albiceleste back line; adding a future club colleague alongside him offers a natural understanding that could prove valuable in the high-pressure churn of a World Cup.

Senesi’s international story has never followed a straight line. A former Bournemouth defender, he once turned down the possibility of representing Italy, backing himself to break into a stacked Argentina setup instead. His debut finally arrived in 2022, in a friendly against Estonia, a low-key stage compared to what now awaits.

The coaching staff made no attempt to hide their disappointment for Balerdi, stressing both their sympathy for the injured defender and the care taken in choosing his successor. A serious muscle tear in the build-up to a World Cup is a brutal twist for any player, let alone one still trying to cement his place.

But tournaments rarely follow the script. Plans bend. Squads evolve. Careers pivot on moments like this.

Senesi, once on the fringes, now walks into a star-studded defensive unit with a World Cup at stake and a Premier League move already in his pocket. The question is no longer whether he would get his chance for Argentina.

It’s what he does with it now.