Tim Vickery

He's one of their big injury worries at the moment.

Buendia of Aston Villa is very, very much on standby because they're worried.

They've got a few injuries, few injury concerns, but it seems that Nico Paz is the worst of them.

He hasn't really gelled with Argentina yet, and I suspect it's difficult to fit him and Messi in together, not least because when Messi wants the ball to feet,

So ideally, with him, you want people who want the ball in front of them.

It's one of the reasons, for example, that Filipe Corcinio couldn't possibly have succeeded in the front line at Barcelona when they had veteran Messi and veteran Suarez.

You needed to have someone who could have the ball in front of them just to stretch the play.

And Corcinio was yet another one who wanted the ball to feet.

So Paz, assuming that he's fit, he might get moments...

but so far they've found it hard it could be his time I wonder if his time is going to be after the World Cup when Messi is gone but someone who certainly fits in his category he's only had a brief spell at Brighton Valentin Barco who what is he is he a left back no he's not really a left back he likes to play from left back rather than at left back good one on one can play either flank can play through the middle he could be the kind of joker off the pack figure that they unleash off the bench

he could be the closest that they've got to a kind of unorthodox Di Maria type player.

Yeah, on what he's produced since that serious knee injury in October 23, there's no way that, just on what he's produced, there's no way.

I remember his club in Saudi Arabia wouldn't register him.

They could register someone like 15 foreign players and he wasn't in the 15 because they didn't think he was fit enough.

What he's done in Brazil since that, came home to Santos, hasn't really proved the Saudis wrong.

Well, Jorge Jesus is the Portuguese coach that he had at that time.

So it is an act of faith.

this um he is and he divides opinion divides opinion in brazil many would criticize this this call up uh it would seem that the dressing room really like him very popular in the dressing room and has been in most addressing rooms in which he's played uh and this is this is something which has persuaded ancelotti but also ancelotti has a has a reverence for talent and

and will always give talent a little bit of slack.

And I think the thinking here, because he's picked up another injury, exactly at the time when Ancelotti was hoping he was going to be able to be playing himself fitter and better than the club form that he's been showing, he's having to fight off another injury, which is a little bit of a worry, because it's an injury that could lead to further injuries when he comes back.