Luis de la Fuente announces Spain squad featuring three surprises and four major absences

Spain manager Luis de la Fuente has announced his first squad since their victory at Euro 2024, featuring four major absences.

Those consist primarily of the injured Unai Simon and captain Alvaro Morata, while Mikel Merino and Nacho Fernandez have dropped out of the squad. Jesus Navas announced his retirement from international duty on Thursday, while Alex Baena also drops out, but he has just come off an Olympic campaign too, and is likely being rested. Merino too has not been involved heavily in preseason, which perhaps did not aid his cause.

Luis de la Fuente has announced his first Spain squad since their Euro 2024 win.

Alvaro Morata and Unai Simon are injured, while Nacho Fernandez and Mikel Merino miss out. #LaRoja pic.twitter.com/5hBCCOGzTp

— Football España (@footballespana_) August 30, 2024

The main surprises in terms of additions are Valencia midfielder Pepelu, and Oscar Mingueza, who has been in fine form for Celta Vigo, scoring twice and assisting twice in the opening three games of the season.

Yeremy Pino also returns to the squad after more than a year away, and Joselu Mato has kept his spot in the side, despite his move to Qatar. Aleix Garcia was one of the players that narrowly missed out on the Spain squad for Germany, as one of three cuts to the initial call-up, but he returns too.

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El equipo dirigido por Santi Denia visita, en partidos de clasificación para el Europeo de 2025, a Escocia el 6 de septiembre y a Hungría el 10 de septiembre.

https://t.co/xiCLFcfsm9#U21EURO pic.twitter.com/3e9DcOdITu

— Selección Española Masculina de Fútbol (@SEFutbol) August 30, 2024

In defence, Aston Villa centre-back Pau Torres is the replacement for Nacho, and Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez has joined David Raya and Alex Remiro as the third goalkeeper in Simon’s place. Pau Cubarsi and Fermin Lopez have also been called up by the under-21 side, rather than the senior side.

Those are the eight changes that have been made from the Euro 2024 squad, although half of them are beyond de la Fuente’s control. La Roja face Serbia on Thursday the 5th of September and Switzerland on the Sunday the 9th, both away from home as they kick off their Nations League campaign. Denmark are their other opponents in the group.

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