"I believe Luis Figo will shortly join the national team, which still has many games to play in this qualification stage," Gilberto Madail told sports daily Record.

Figo, voted FIFA's World Player of the Year in 2001, left the team after Portugal missed out in the Euro 2004 final to Greece after a 12-year career and 110 appearances, a national record he shares with Fernando Couto.

The 32-year-old continues to play for Real Madrid. His contract with the Spanish giants expires in 2006 but has not yet been renewed.

"Luis Figo is indispensable to this team and to any other," Madail told national news agency Lusa when asked about the newspaper interview.

"Figo never closed the doors completely to the national squad and only those who don't want to see can deny that he has been pushing Real Madrid along," he added.

When Figo announced his retirement from the Portuguese squad in August he refused to shut the door completely on a possible return at a later date.

"I think the time has come to take a break. I don't know if it will be forever, because I will never refuse to serve my country and because no one can predict the future, but at this moment I feel the need to stop," he said at the time.

Last month Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari told reporters he talks with the player regularly and there was a chance that the player would return to the team.

"He has objectives, and so do we. Maybe there will be a time when both of our objectives cross paths," he said.