MADRID, 28 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The national men’s soccer coach, Luis de la Fuente, is clear that he does not want “ties from anyone” when it comes to facing his possible renewal and that his only wish is for the “other party to be just as happy” as him, while who regretted Gavi’s injury in the last break because “it is a very important loss from a football and human point of view” and considered “miserable and advantageous” that the fact of having called up Pedri González for the Tokyo Games after having played in the Eurocup weeks is being blamed. before the injuries that the canary has had.
“I am very calm, it will be done when it has to be done, when both parties are interested it will go ahead. I understand that there will be elections before the EURO and then we will sit down and talk. I am happy and happy and if the other party is There will be no problem, but I prefer the new president to be there because I don’t want ties from anyone, I want the other party to be exactly as happy as I am,” De la Fuente said in an interview with ‘El Larguero’ on SER.
In this sense, he expressed that he would be “just as good” if he continued directing the U-21 and that he has “always” been where he wanted to be. His good work with the lower categories did not go unnoticed and he had “an offer from a First Division club and another from an important team outside of Europe, from the ‘petrodollars’.”
Furthermore, he did not hesitate to see a good replacement for the current Girona coach, Miguel Ángel Sánchez, ‘Míchel’ for the future. “He is very good, I know him very well and he is a great coach. Míchel can be whatever he wants, he fits perfectly into this idea that the RFEF has,” he warned, making it clear that “the way the Catalan team is playing is spectacular.”
Regarding Gavi’s serious injury against Georgia, he admitted that no one from FC Barcelona contacted the RFEF or him to ask him not to play that match due to the burden he was accumulating. “If they had called, the RFEF would have told me something. I have a maxim and that is that when they are with us we only think about the national team and when I say goodbye to them I tell them that it is time to think about their clubs,” he indicated.
The man from La Rioja reiterated that “the idea” was for the Blaugrana to play only one part against Georgia and assured that the injury occurred in the second action and not in the first as other doctors have warned. “At half-time I ask him and he tells me that in the first inning there is nothing. The doctors saw that the knee is stable and that is why he is allowed to continue playing. Our doctors are great doctors and with exceptional experience and they saw that he could continue in the field,” he noted.
The one from Haro conveyed his “regret” to Xavi Hernández, coach of FC Barcelona, for this injury, and pointed out that as the days went by he came to meet the “more lively” Andalusian. “It is a very important loss for us, football-wise and human-wise,” admitted the coach, who confirmed that they would consider taking him to the European Championship if he recovered in time.
De la Fuente recalled that “where a player has the most opportunities to improve is in his club” and that with the national team there are no “procedures because all the games are very important.” “The calendar that is signed in July and everyone agrees, what is worthless is to complain later. We are all playing something, they don’t come here to rest, they come to compete and the best have to come,” he stressed.
“Imagine that you are an elite athlete and your coach calls you and asks you if you have the strength to go to the Games. Pedri told me yes and, after speaking with him, we understood that he was fit to go to the Games. He was in perfect condition. physical condition and blaming his subsequent injuries on this participation in the Games seems a little miserable and advantageous to me,” he added later when asked about the Canary Islands midfielder and if he had been ‘burned’ with the Euro Cup and Games in the summer of 2021.
“NO ONE IS Impervious to CRITICISM”
De la Fuente also described Isco Alarcón as “a great footballer”, but that he does not call him up because he considers that he is being “fair” with those he calls and that he sees “at the same level” as the Betis footballer, who “was” in the last pre-list and whom “it was valued to bring him”. “He is working a lot, he is not the same as he was ten years ago,” he said.
While he did not tell Sergio Ramos in his private conversation that “he was not going to come to the national team”, but he did have “other players in mind”. “I didn’t expect that reaction, but I respect it,” he replied after the Andalusian’s decision to announce his international retirement shortly after.
On the other hand, about to celebrate one year since his appointment, he warned that “no one is impervious to criticism”, but that he was “very calm” when doubts about his work began to be discussed. “I was not worried before or today, it is the instability of this job. Yes, there are unfounded things like that it was said that from within that there was distrust of the president and if he comes out and says that it is false, I believe him. Luque never conveyed any doubt, I know that you earn this job with results.
Regarding what happened at the RFEF Assembly on August 25 and his applause after Luis Rubiales’ controversial speech, the coach insisted that he had already said that he had made a mistake. “I said he didn’t recognize me, of course he wouldn’t do it again,” he said. “He called me to give me his condolences for my brother, it was a 20-second conversation and I thanked him for the detail,” he added about the last time he had spoken with the former president of the RFEF.