Javier Pastore's New Role: Legal Advisor and Fan at the World Cup

Javier Pastore leans back, smiles, and watches another World Cup from a different kind of front row.

Two generations younger than Lionel Messi, a former teammate with Argentina and a cult hero at PSG between 2011 and 2018, “El Flaco” is now navigating a new role: legal representative and close advisor to Enzo Fernández. In Miami, at an AFA event tied to the federation’s global academy expansion, Pastore spoke with the calm of someone who has seen football from every angle—dressing room, pitch, and now boardroom.

A World Cup that refuses to follow the script

How is he living this World Cup? With the eyes of a fan and the mind of a professional.

“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. The element of surprise clearly appeals to him. Stadiums are full, atmospheres are intense, and Argentina’s games have pulled him straight back into the emotional orbit of the Albiceleste.

“I’ve experienced all of Argentina’s matches, and I’m very happy with everything I’ve seen from the team.” No analysis, no overcomplication. Just satisfaction with a side that, once again, carries the weight of a nation.

Spain, France… and the dream of another final

The conversation inevitably drifts to hypotheticals, to the kind of final that stirs two of Pastore’s footballing homes: Spain and Argentina.

A Spain–Argentina final? He doesn’t hesitate.

“It would be a nice opponent. 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.”

The message is clear. The dream is not about the rival. It’s about getting to the last game, again, with Messi and this generation back on the biggest stage of all.

Enzo Fernández, the chameleon in midfield

If Messi is the eternal reference point, Enzo Fernández is the new axis Pastore studies most closely. Not as a teammate this time, but as his legal representative and trusted voice off the pitch.

“He is well, very positive, he is having a very good World Cup,” Pastore says. Enzo’s impact has been obvious: “In the first two matches he helped the team win comfortably.”

The role he plays has evolved rapidly. Pastore knows it better than most.

“Enzo has changed his position a great deal in recent years. He has played much deeper or as a midfielder getting into the box,” he explains. With the national team, the picture is nuanced: “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.”

That last detail is telling. In a side built around Messi, Enzo has become the one midfielder who dares to step into his orbit, who links the base of play with the final third. Pastore sums him up simply: “He is a player who adapts very well to any type of position.”

Chelsea present, Real Madrid whispers

Rumours swirl around Enzo every time he touches the ball in this World Cup. Real Madrid’s name inevitably appears. Pastore, now used to this terrain, keeps the line tight.

“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...” That is the priority. The rest can wait. “He is only thinking about that and we are looking at possibilities to leave Chelsea, but there is nothing firm or confirmed at any club.”

It’s a striking admission. The door to a Chelsea exit is open, but there is no agreement, no pre-contract, no done deal hiding behind the scenes. Just options being studied and a World Cup to finish.

Madrid, though, is never far from the conversation.

Enzo has already said he likes the club a lot. Pastore doesn’t deny the attraction, but he frames it in human terms.

“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.” Then comes another layer: geography and lifestyle. “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 seduces players and ex-players alike. Whether that turns into a Real Madrid move is another story, one that remains unwritten.

PSG, dominance and Luis Enrique’s hunger

Mention PSG and Pastore’s eyes still light up. In Paris, he went from elegant playmaker to club icon, the symbol of a new era. Now he watches from afar as a different PSG tries to dominate Europe.

“They have a squad to keep dominating, they are young, they have a lot of ambition to keep winning,” he says. The core, in his view, is not just the talent, but the alignment between bench and boardroom.

He points to Luis Enrique as the catalyst. “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.”

Ambition recognizes ambition. “Luis Enrique is a coach with tremendous ambition and the club has made everything available to him to keep achieving great things.” For Pastore, the cycle is not closing. It’s still gathering pace.

Would he like to be part of this PSG, with its trophies and its relentless machine?

The answer comes with a laugh and a dose of honesty.

No, not even close.

The elegance is still there, the affection too. But Pastore has moved on to a different battlefront now: shaping the careers of players like Enzo Fernández, watching World Cups from the other side of the white line, and quietly influencing where the next generation of stars will play their football.