After all the debate and conjecture, Tata Martino has named his first real Argentina squad for the forthcoming friendlies in China and Hong Kong and there is still no place for Carlos Tevez. The Juventus striker was tipped for a return but he is absent from the preliminary list. However, there are places for Mateo Musacchio, Roberto Pereyra, Javier Pastore, Erik Lamela, Santiago Vergini, Nico Gaitan and Nahuel Guzman.

The 19-man list, that is supposedly having some Argentine Primera players added to it, is as follows:

Goalkeepers
Sergio Romero (Sampdoria)
Nahuel Guzman (Tigres)

Defenders
Mateo Musacchio (Villarreal)
Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City)
Martin Demechelis (Manchester City)
Marcos Rojo (Manchester United)
Santiago Vergini (Sunderland)
Federico Fernandez (Swansea City)

Midfielders
Javier Mascherano (Barcelona)
Roberto Pereyra (Juventus)
Lucas Biglia (Lazio)
Javier Pastore (Paris St Germain)
Angel Di Maria (Manchester United)
Enzo Perez (Benfica)
Nico Gaitan (Benfica)

Forwards
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli)
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
Erik Lamela (Tottenham)