AN ARGENTINE could be the next technical director of football in Barbados and he should be in the island by the first week of next year.

President of the Barbados Football Association (BFA) Ronald Jones confirmed that discussions had been taking place with the relevant parties and everything should be finalised shortly.

"There is still discussion ongoing with the National Sports Council (NSC), the Minister of Sport (Anthony Wood) and obviously with the person whom we have identified to assist us with the programme," he said earlier this week.

"We are working feverishly to ensure that this is in place and by January 3, we can have that person on board," he added.

While Jones did not say the nationality of the new technical director, investigations by the WEEKEND NATION reveal that the highly-qualified Argentine is the front-runner for the post.

Former national coach Keith Griffith is currently serving as technical advisor to the national team, which won its Group "B" Digicel Caribbean Cup qualifying series in Antigua on Sunday.

Pressed as to why the appointment was taking so long, Jones said the the salary of previous technical director, German Reinhard Fabisch, was supported almost 85 per cent out of the funds from the lottery which is controlled by the NSC.

"That should've been onboard about five, six months ago but you cannot bring these things on board unless you have the resources to do it," he pointed out.

"Obviously, the agreement is still there. It is just that you have to bring a new one in. One has to have it written on the dotted line and we would have to straighten out some little hiccups we had in the past so that when we move forward, we won't have those little problems," he said.

He revealed that the association held a meeting with the minister and members of his staff two weeks ago, at which the matter was discussed.

"I think that the minister understands what we are talking about relative to the development. There are a lot of challenges that we face but if we can work together, we can get past some of these challenges and really bring the football to a height, not only in Barbados but regionally where we want to actually take football," the president said.

lezrastuart@nationnews.com