{"id":974594,"date":"2026-05-21T02:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/974594\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T02:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:47:17","slug":"luis-de-la-fuente-teases-spain-world-cup-squad-its-possible-ill-call-up-a-player-who-hasnt-been-here-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/974594\/","title":{"rendered":"Luis de la Fuente teases Spain World Cup squad: \u2018It\u2019s possible I\u2019ll call up a player who hasn\u2019t been here before\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luis de la Fuente<\/a> <\/strong>has led Spain<\/a><\/strong> very well since taking over, capped by a brilliant Euro title. The next challenge is even bigger, but he already has most of the squad sorted out. Monday is when he will announce the World Cup<\/a><\/strong> list, which could still include a surprise, as he told former player Mario Su\u00e1rez on his podcast.<\/p>\n

De la Fuente said: \u201cThe group of players is set. It\u2019s possible I\u2019ll call up a player who hasn\u2019t been here before<\/strong>. The goalkeeper is decided. I could even tell you the lineup. There will be three goalkeepers, not four.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the manager did not name that player, one name that has recently gained a lot of attention is Gavi<\/a><\/strong>, who has been excellent for Barcelona<\/a><\/strong>: \u201cWe haven\u2019t given him anything. He has earned it himself after overcoming two very serious injuries<\/strong>. He is in a very good moment. When he is not there, he is a player you really miss.\u201d<\/p>\n

De la Fuente on Dani Carvajal <\/p>\n

A major name that was left out of the list was Dani Carvajal<\/a><\/strong>. The right back was outstanding for Real Madrid<\/a><\/strong> two years ago and even scored in the Champions League final, but after his knee injury in October 2023, he has not been able to repeat that level.<\/p>\n

\"\"Carvajal has just returned from a minor foot injury (Fran Santiago\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n

This time may not be ideal for Carvajal, as he will not make the squad, not because his performances have not been good enough, but due to a recent injury that has put his fitness in doubt in doubt and he has missed time while trying to get back in shape<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

De la Fuente all but confirmed that Carvajal was not going to be back in time after suffering a fracture of the distal phalanx of the fifth toe: \u201cHe is a great captain, but it was difficult for him to be in condition to play<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

De la Fuente on his hardest decision <\/p>\n

The coach also reflected on his career. De la Fuente said leaving a major name out of the team was the hardest decision he has made since becoming Spain\u2019s national team coach: \u201cThe hardest decision since I became national team coach was not calling up Sergio Ramos<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luis de la Fuente has led Spain very well since taking over, capped by a brilliant Euro title.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":974595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5312],"tags":[199,18390,2000,299,34777,130809,544,104],"class_list":["post-974594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-barcelona","tag-dani-carvajal","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-gavi","tag-luis-de-la-fuente","tag-real-madrid","tag-spain"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116610286591354348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=974594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/974595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=974594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=974594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=974594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}