Francisco Scarpecchio

The call came from a small town in Santa Fe, and the local radio station in Las Parejas carried it: Francisco Scarpecchio had been named in an extended Argentina Sub-17 squad under Pablo Aimar in June 2022.

Four years on, the route into Newell's Old Boys has been the slow kind. His name appears in the reserve fixtures rather than the headlines — four appearances in the Liga de Reservas across 2025, two more the following year. What is recorded is that he kept turning up for the second team while the first-team door opened only a crack.

That crack came in 2025, with two appearances in the Liga Profesional. The 2026 Apertura gave him something closer to a run: nine matches, one goal, one booking . He was also in the squad for the trip to face Unión de Santa Fe in April 2026. He was named in the Clausura squad as well, though the breakdown of his minutes there has not been published.

Newell's finished top of the Tabla General in 2025, which carried them into the 2026 Copa Libertadores. Scarpecchio's name was not on the squad list for that competition.

The one goal in the Apertura is the only one the record shows.