Former Argentina midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron has questioned Jorge Sampaoli's decision to leave Mauro Icardi out of his World Cup squad.

The 25-year-old enjoyed a fruitful season with Inter Milan last term, scoring 29 goals in 34 Serie A games.

However, Icardi only featured in three of Argentina's World Cup qualifying matches and failed to make the cut for Russia, a tournament in which the Albiceleste are struggling with one point from two games.

Veron, who made 73 appearances for Argentina and also spent time with Inter, is unsure why the two-time World Cup champions would have left the prolific Nerazzurri captain behind.

"From outside it is difficult to judge his exclusion from the World Cup," Veron told RMC Sport. "I would need to be in the head of Sampaoli.

"I do wonder why someone who has scored so many goals for Inter, who isn't in the older generation, isn't at the World Cup.

"He scores so much that he had to be on the list but only Sampaoli knows the reason."

After drawing with Iceland and losing heavily to Croatia, Argentina must beat Nigeria in their final Group D game to stand a chance of reaching the last 16.