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Argentina's new coach Edgardo Bauza believes he can change Lionel Messi's mind and stop him walking away from the national team.

Bauza was named on Monday as the replacement for Gerardo Martino, who resigned a month ago.

Martino guided Argentina to two successive Copa America finals which ended in penalty shootout defeats to Chile.

Despite only being 29, Messi also chose to walk away from the national side after a fourth defeat in a major final with Argentina.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: Getty)

However, Bauza is determined to include the Barcelona superstar in his squad for September's South American 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Bauza said: "I'm optimistic about Messi. I hope the chat with him will help for him to carry on in the national team.

"I want to explain to Messi what my (tactical) idea is. The least of my worries is his position on the pitch.

"There's no need to convince Messi of anything, the plan is to talk about football."

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(Image: Getty)

Bauza quit his job with Sao Paulo to accept the Argentina vacancy and will sign his contract in Buenos Aires on Friday.

But he only has a couple of weeks to decide on his squad for qualifiers at home to Uruguay and away to Venezuela in the first week of September.

And Bauza told the Argentine daily newspaper La Nacion: "There isn't much time. My first squad won't have many changes but I want to talk with five or six of the leading players."

It is thought Bauza was referring to the likes of Javier Mascherano, Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain.

(Image: Getty)

But he has also opened the door for Carlos Tevez, who has 76 caps but was overlooked by Martino after a World Cup qualifier against Paraguay last October.

He added: "I'm thinking of Tevez as I am about other players ... Tevez is a player good enough for the national team."

Argentina are third in the 10-nation South American World Cup qualifying group with 11 points from six matches, two points behind leading pair Uruguay and Ecuador.

The top four teams after 18 matches go through to the Russia finals while the fifth-placed team goes into an intercontinental play-off for one more berth.

(Image: Instagram/antoroccuzzo88)