{"id":625363,"date":"2026-06-07T03:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T03:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625363\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T03:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T03:17:13","slug":"argentina-star-ruled-out-of-world-cup-and-tottenham-transfer-target-could-replace-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625363\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina star ruled out of World Cup and Tottenham transfer target could replace him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Argentina have been hit by a major injury blow days before the World Cup begins.<\/p>\n

The current world champions<\/a> are looking to go back-to-back at the expanded 48-team tournament, which will be held in Mexico, the United States, and Canada.<\/p>\n

\"Leonardo<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Leonardo Balerdi will now miss the World Cup after suffering an injuryCredit: AFP<\/p>\n

However, 11 days ahead of their opening match they have been forced into a change of personnel.<\/p>\n

What has happened to Leonardo Balerdi?<\/p>\n

Centre-back Leonardo Balerdi had been called up for his first World Cup after captaining Marseille this season.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old, though, suffered an injury in a training session that will now rule him out of the tournament.<\/p>\n

A translated statement on Argentina’s social media said: \u201cDefender Leonardo Balerdi suffered a muscle injury in the soleus of his right leg and will not be able to be part of the squad that will play the World Cup.<\/p>\n

read more on the World Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cChin up, strength, and a speedy recovery, Flaco!\u201d<\/p>\n

Balerdi played in seven of Argentina’s 12 qualifying matches for the 2026 tournament.<\/p>\n

Three of those were starts while he also started an October friendly with Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

Domestically, he made 21 starts and five substitute appearances for Marseille in Ligue 1.<\/p>\n

He also had five starts in the Champions League in his sixth season with the club.<\/p>\n

He was due to wear the No.2 at the 2026 World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Marcos<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Senesi could now head to the 2026 World Cup with ArgentinaCredit: GettyWho will replace Leonardo Balerdi?<\/p>\n

Currently, Lisandro Martinez, Cristian Romero<\/a>, Nicolas Otamendi, and Facundo Medina are potential centre-back options.<\/p>\n

However, German Pezzella, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Kevin Mac Allister, Zaid Romero, and Lautaro Di Lollo were named in the preliminary squad.<\/p>\n

That’s along with Marco Senesi who may well be the favourite to get the nod.<\/p>\n

A brilliant four-year spell with Bournemouth<\/a> saw him leave the club a hero.<\/p>\n

And the 29-year-old is set to join Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> upon the expiry of his contract this summer.<\/p>\n

He has three caps, though all have come in friendlies.<\/p>\n

Senesi’s first was in 2022 against Estonia as a substitute before starts against Venezuela and Mauritania in the last 12 months.<\/p>\n

World Cup WhatsApp<\/p>\n

Don’t miss an update from talkSPORT in our dedicated World Cup WhatsApp channel.<\/p>\n

Search for ‘talkSPORT World Cup’ in your ‘Updates’ tab on WhatsApp and we\u2019ll drop the proper, unfiltered football chat straight to your lock screen\u2014no fluff, just pure talkSPORT energy.<\/p>\n

It’s where you’ll find out all the new rules to watch out for, England and Scotland reaction and big match player ratings. <\/p>\n

Plus there will be loads of debates on the biggest talking points as Haaland, Mbappe, Kane and the biggest names in football descend on America, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Argentina have been hit by a major injury blow days before the World Cup begins. The current world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[14632,212076,212078,212079,212075,212077,212081,218,212080,47374,101,56,54,55,6526,211618],"class_list":["post-625363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-argentina","tag-argentina-news","tag-argentina-squad","tag-argentina-squad-news","tag-argentina-world-cup","tag-argentina-world-cup-news","tag-balerdi","tag-football","tag-leonardo-balerdi","tag-marseille","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}