Sevilla will not allow coach Jorge Sampaoli to 'job-share' with Argentina, while former Albiceleste coach Marcelo Bielsa will not be returning to the position this summer.
Argentina are currently looking to appoint a replacement for Gerardo Martino, who stepped down after the team's penalty shootout defeat to Chile in this summer's Copa America Centenario in the United States.
The situation is complicated by ongoing institutional chaos in Argentine football, and allegations of misappropriation of AFA funds, with the national government and FIFA having stepped in to appoint a Comision Regularizadora (Normalising Commission) to sort out the situation.
The idea of a part-time national coach was raised last week by Fernando Marin, a government appointment to the Commission, who suggested that Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone, Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino or Sevilla's Sampaoli could combine club and country duties up until the World Cup in 2018.
Speaking to TyC Sports show 'Estudio Fútbol', Sampaoli's lawyer, Fernando Baredes, suggested that the Commission's chief Armando Perez had made contact but that the timing was not good and the La Liga club would not be open to any job-sharing arrangement.
"Sevilla do not want to share their coach," Baredes said of the former Chile boss. "He found out about this through the media, who are always a step ahead when things happen. Then, if he was not called by Armando Perez, he was called by someone very close to him.
"It is a difficult moment financially for the AFA. I don't believe they can pay Sampaoli and Sevilla to get him, but the desire to coach the national team is there and will always be there.
"He wants to be Argentina manager, but he is busy at the moment. He is a responsible person, and will fulfill his contract 100 percent. The offer has come at the wrong time. Sevilla are not going to share Jorge. A coach cannot have two contracts, unless his club authorises it."
Sevilla sporting director Monchi said in Marca that there had been no contact from the AFA, and anyway Sampaoli was concentrating on the job he took only a month ago.
"For Sevilla we are proud that our coach is wanted by Argentina," Monchi said. "But apart from that, Sampaoli has a contract with Sevilla and from talking to him every day I can see he is fully committed here. I have not seen any changes.
"Nobody from the AFA contacted us. I know the national team coach is front page news in Argentina every day, and all this is causing a big stir. I also understand that Sampaoli was one option, as well as [San Pablo coach Edgardo] Bauza, Simeone, Pochettino... but there have been no calls, no contact with Sevilla."
Simeone addressed the matter of potential job-sharing on Thursday during an Atletico Madrid news conference: "No one has done it. Possibly in the future it could be a real possibility because a lot of coaches would like to do it and can't because of their club contracts. In time, it may be a possibility."
Pochettino admitted that he would also like the job and acknowledged that Simeone would also be a good candidate: "He's one of the best. I know him very well and I'm sure in his mind one day he wants to manage Argentina -- like me. But it's not the right moment for us now.
The idea that Bielsa, who had a two-day stint as Lazio coach recently, could return to the post he held from 1998 to 2006 and succeed Martino has been floated by Perez.
However he has now told FM Super 107.5 show 'De Leprosos y Canallas' that the 61-year-old did not think he was the right person to come into the current situation and take over the national team.
"I spoke with mister Bielsa, quite a long time," Perez said. "But he told me he thought that at the moment he was not the right person to be the coach, and it had been difficult for him to make the decision. I respect that. He said that he would always help us in the future."