Javier Pastore on Argentina's World Cup Journey and Enzo Fernández

Javier Pastore stands a couple of football generations behind Lionel Messi, but he still talks about the game with the sharpness of someone who has lived it at the very top. In Miami, at an AFA event tied to Argentina’s global academy push, the former PSG playmaker and current legal representative of Enzo Fernández cut an intriguing figure: part ex-star, part agent, part fan.

A World Cup that refuses to follow the script

Pastore is glued to this World Cup, and not just because of Argentina.

He sees a tournament that has ripped up expectations, with supposedly modest sides refusing to bow to the traditional powers. That unpredictability, the full stadiums, the noise, the colour — it has hooked him. Above all, he has lived every Argentina match intensely and likes what he sees from Lionel Scaloni’s team.

The Albiceleste, he suggests, have found a blend of authority and personality that suits the chaos of this World Cup.

Spain, France… and a dream final

Ask Pastore about a potential Spain–Argentina final and the romantic in him surfaces, but only briefly. He knows the weight of the question.

Spain, he says, would be “a nice opponent,” but he doesn’t dress it up. For him, Spain and France are the two most dangerous teams Argentina could meet on the final step. The message is simple: getting there is everything. Talk of opponents can wait. The job is to reach the last game.

Enzo Fernández, the chameleon in midfield

If there is one player he watches with a different kind of attention, it is Enzo Fernández. Pastore doesn’t just admire him; he represents him.

He describes a footballer in a very good place, positive, confident, delivering a strong World Cup. In the opening matches, Enzo has helped Argentina win with a certain comfort, influencing games in that understated way only a complete midfielder can.

Position labels barely fit him anymore. Pastore has seen Enzo evolve from a deeper role into a midfielder who can arrive in the box and hurt opponents. With the national team, he often starts from deep, but then something changes: he becomes the one midfielder who pushes right up to the attacking line, staying close to Messi, linking the play, appearing where defenders least want him.

For Pastore, that adaptability is the key. Enzo can live in any zone of the pitch.

Real Madrid whispers and a Chelsea exit

The obvious question hangs in the air: Real Madrid.

Pastore doesn’t dodge it, but he doesn’t feed the fire either. Right now, he insists, Enzo is calm and completely focused on the national team and the World Cup, with the round of 16 within reach. That is the priority.

Behind the scenes, though, the future is moving. Pastore admits they are studying possibilities for Enzo to leave Chelsea. There is work being done, scenarios being weighed. But he is clear: there is nothing firm, nothing agreed, with any club.

The Madrid attraction is real, but it is not yet a negotiation. Enzo likes the city, has many friends there, and is particularly close to Julián Álvarez. When they can, they meet there. Pastore himself lives in Madrid, and Enzo often travelled to see him, to sort out professional matters. Then there is the simple truth Pastore drops with a smile: who doesn’t like Madrid?

He never played for a Madrid club. He still chose to make it home.

PSG’s new era, seen by one of its own

Mention PSG and Pastore’s status is undisputed. Between 2011 and 2018 he became one of the early symbols of the club’s modern era, a creative reference before the wave of global superstars.

Looking at the current PSG, he sees a side built to keep ruling. Young, ambitious, hungry to win. He speaks with admiration of a coach who has read the moment of the club perfectly, understood both the dressing room and the institution, and delivered back-to-back Champions League titles. In Pastore’s eyes, those are “incredible things,” the kind of achievements that change how a club is perceived across Europe.

He believes that path will continue. With Luis Enrique’s drive and a squad tailored to his ideas, PSG, in his view, has everything in place to chase more major trophies.

Would he play for this PSG, though?

His answer is instant and playful: absolutely not. “Not even close,” he laughs.

It is a line delivered with self-awareness, a nod to the level the club has reached and to the passing of time. Pastore helped build the stage. Others now own the spotlight.