49erssports.com - Spain national team coach Luis Enrique admits that Ansu Fati is the last player he will include in the Spain squad for the 2022 World Cup. Because he still has doubts about the player.
Fati is doubtful not because of his abilities. The 20-year-old is in doubt due to his recent recovery from injury.
Despite having played in 20 games for Barcelona this season, Fati has often played off the bench. Minutes of play has only reached 700 minutes or the 15th most in the Blaugrana squad.
Apart from losing to other players in his position, Fati is also not in the best condition after recovering from an injury that kept him out for five months.
Biggest Gambling
Enrique understands the situation at hand. He didn't even hesitate to admit that summoning Fati was a gamble he had to do.
"I know the conditions that hit him. So that is the biggest reason for my doubts about him," Enrique told Marca.
"I've made the biggest gamble calling him, compared to other players," he added.
Decide at the Last Minute
The injury that had smothered Fati, made him absent for Spain at Euro 2020. In fact, the last time the player played for Spain occurred in 2020.
“Ansu's level of play is actually unquestionable. But he was going through a difficult time and I had my doubts about it," he said.
“I finally decided to call him at the last minute. Did he finally reach the level I expected? We will look forward to it," he said.
Hopefully it will be a stimulus
However, Enrique deliberately called him to provide a stimulus for the player to return to his best performance. Fati will later compete with seven other Spanish forwards who were brought to Qatar.
"I think this call-up will be a great stimulus for him to come back into the squad. Although I emphasize there are still doubts," he said.
"We'll see what happens in the World Cup," he concluded.
Source: Marca