Javier Pastore Reflects on Argentina's World Cup Journey and Enzo Fernández
Javier Pastore leans back, smiles, and watches another World Cup unfold from a very different vantage point.
Two generations separate him from Lionel Messi, yet their careers once overlapped in the Argentina shirt. In Paris, he became a symbol of the first great PSG project. Now, in Miami at an AFA event promoting Argentina’s global academy expansion, “El Flaco” is something else entirely: the legal representative of Enzo Fernández, one of the central figures in Argentina’s present and future.
The stage has changed. The eye for the game has not.
A World Cup that won’t sit still
Pastore has seen enough tournaments to recognize when one refuses to follow the script.
“I’m watching a very competitive World Cup, with teams we weren’t expecting much from and that are putting up a fight,” he says. Stadiums are full, noise is constant, and Argentina’s games still hit him in the gut, just as they did when he was on the pitch.
He has lived every minute of the national team’s campaign. “I’ve experienced all of Argentina’s matches, and I’m very happy with everything I’ve seen from the team,” he adds. The standard is high, the expectations higher. That’s the way it has always been around the Albiceleste.
Spain, France… and the idea of another final
Talk drifts naturally to the business end of the tournament. Could Argentina collide with Spain, the other country that has marked his life and career?
“It would be a nice opponent,” Pastore says, without hesitation. Then he sharpens the field. “I think France and Spain are the toughest opponents we could end up facing in a final, so let’s hope we can make it there, because that’s the most important thing.”
No romanticism, no detours. First, survive. Then, dream.
Enzo Fernández, the chameleon in the middle
If Messi is the enduring reference point, Enzo Fernández is one of the new pillars. Pastore does not speak as a pundit here; he speaks as the man entrusted with guiding the midfielder’s career.
“He is well, very positive, he is having a very good World Cup,” Pastore says. The impact has been immediate. “In the first two matches he helped the team win comfortably.”
The key, in Pastore’s eyes, lies in Enzo’s evolution. “Enzo has changed his position a great deal in recent years,” he explains. “He has played much deeper or as a midfielder getting into the box.”
With the national team, that versatility has become a weapon. “Here with the national team he starts deep, but in the end he is the only midfielder who gets up to the attacking line and stays close to Messi. He is a player who adapts very well to any type of position.”
Deep-lying organizer, late-arriving runner, link to Messi. It’s a rare blend, and it has turned him into one of the most coveted midfielders in Europe.
Real Madrid whispers and a Chelsea exit on the horizon
Inevitably, the conversation lands in Madrid. Could Enzo end up in white?
Pastore draws a clear line between present and future. “Today the player is calmly thinking about the national team, he is playing in a World Cup, he is very close to reaching the round of 16... He is only thinking about that,” he says.
Then comes the other half of the truth. “We are looking at possibilities to leave Chelsea, but there is nothing firm or confirmed at any club.”
No code, no riddles. Enzo’s camp is exploring an exit. Nothing is done.
The Madrid connection, though, is real on a personal level. “He has many friends there, and he is very close friends with Julián Álvarez, and in the end, whenever they can spend time together, they are together there,” Pastore explains.
There’s also a more domestic reason: “And I also live in Madrid. Every time he traveled, he traveled to see me and to sort out work-related matters, but besides that: who doesn’t like Madrid? I never even played in Madrid... I even live there.”
The city pulls players in. The badge often follows.
PSG’s new empire and a legend looking on
Mention PSG and Pastore’s expression shifts again. He was there at the beginning, the elegant No. 10 who helped drag the club into a new era between 2011 and 2018. From a distance, he now watches a side that has finally conquered Europe and is intent on staying there.
“They have a squad to keep dominating, they are young, they have a lot of ambition to keep winning,” he says. The praise extends straight to the bench. “A coach who has understood the players and the club perfectly at the moment it was in, he has won the Champions League two years in a row, he has truly done incredible things and I think he is going to continue along that path.”
Luis Enrique, in Pastore’s view, has been given everything he needs. “Luis Enrique is a coach with tremendous ambition and the club has made everything available to him to keep achieving great things.”
The project he helped launch has turned into a fully formed machine.
Would he play for this PSG, this version that has gone beyond the dream and into dominance?
Pastore doesn’t even pretend to hesitate.
“No, not even close,” he fires back, laughing.
From Miami to Madrid, from Messi to Enzo, from PSG’s first act to its current reign, Pastore now watches football’s shifting powers from a different angle. But his influence, quietly, still runs through some of the game’s biggest decisions.
