From what has happened since succeeding Luis Enrique after the 2022 World Cup, it can be seen that De la Fuente is a fierce person. He directly told Sergio Ramos that he didn’t need the centre-back anymore, leading to a ruckus on the social media of the PSG player. And now, the former Spain U21 coach has just continued to issue a controversial summons list.
15 players who attended the 2022 World Cup with Luis Enrique have been removed from the list. The trio of captains and vice-captains of the national team at the last call-up, Sergio Busquets, Koke and Jordi Alba, were absent. Instead there are 14 “new” faces in both senses: either a real rookie, or called back after not being able to compete in the tournament in Qatar.
Coach Luis de la Fuente announces Spain squad list
The two true “newbies” given the opportunity by coach De la Fuente are midfielder David Garcia of Osasuna and striker Joselu of Espanyol. And although it was the first time that they appeared in the Spanish team, the duo was actually too familiar with La Liga. Midfielder Fabian Ruiz has made a comeback since EURO 2020, while Real Madrid’s Dani Ceballos and Nacho Fernandez have not even been called up to the national team since 2018.
But the most remarkable thing is that it seems that coach De la Fuente is trying to erase the Barca “remnants” of his predecessor Luis Enrique. Of the 8 members of the Catalunya team that Lucho brought to the 2022 World Cup, only 2 names are still present in this gathering: Gavi and Alejandro Balde. And if not counting Pedri who is injured and Busquets has taken the initiative to retire from the national team, the 4 people who are really ignored this time include Alba, Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati and Eric Garcia.
Of course, De la Fuente has every reason to do so. The 61-year-old strategist has in fact sent a very clear message: if you do not play or do not play well at the club, you will not have a place in the Spain team. And if viewed from this angle, the absence of the Barca quartet is extremely understandable.
Because at the Camp Nou now, Alba is only on the bench for Balde. Eric Garcia also did not have a starting position in the central position when Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen or Jules Kounde all played very well. Similarly, both Ferran and Fati are backup plans on coach Xavi’s attack.
With De la Fuente, it’s your form that determines, not which club you’re playing for. It is different from the unconditional protection that former coach Luis Enrique once gave to Eric Garcia and his “fake son-in-law” Ferran Torres before, despite the duo’s decline in form. And it also creates an interesting thing when in a rare occasion, Real Madrid contributed more troops to the Spanish team than Barca (3 versus 2).
Of course, it is not without reason that we refer to the two giants of La Liga. As a matter of fact, to be successful with La Roja, a coach needs to reconcile the relationship between the players of these two clubs. They can “kick to death” when confronting in El Clasico matches, but once they put on the red shirt of Spain, they must protect each other and look in the same direction.
Representative Ferran Torres “scorned” coach De la Fuente
Coach Luis de la Fuente has disappointed many people with the Spain squad list, and not everyone knows how to control emotions. Ferran Torres is an example because as soon as the list was announced, the Barca striker’s agency, Leaderbrock Sports, “kicked” coach De la Fuente on Instagram. The company wrote: “15 goals and many trophies since the Under-17 team. No one can erase them all. Today there are people who will be happy, and you have your title.”
