Spain’s national team manager, Luis De La Fuente, has stated that he is delighted with Barcelona youngster Lamine Yamal, whom he gave his first national team call-up for September’s international break.

La Roja will face Georgia in Tbilisi on Friday for their third Euro 2024 qualifier, hoping to return to winning ways. Spain started their Euro 2024 qualifier by beating Norway 3-0 but lost to Scotland 2-0 in their second game before going for the Nations League play-off, where they won the competition ahead of Croatia.

However, in a bid to get their UEFA Euro championships campaign back on track, the manager is delighted to have the Barcelona young star who has been making waves for all the positive reasons in his camp as he turned down requests to speak about the controversy surroundings Luis Rubiales kiss on women’s national team striker Jennifer Hermoso.

“Lamine appeared very good to me watching him on television, but working with him, you realize even more his potential. He seems even better. Currently, he’s a very important player for us; he’s here on his own merit. I have total confidence in him. I think he’s a great player. Since the beginning of the training camp, I have only been thinking about football and Georgia because I believe that we have the possibility of putting qualification on the right track. We are focusing exclusively on the match tomorrow,” said De la Fuente.

Sixteen-year-old Lamine Yamal will break a lot of records on Friday if he makes an appearance against Georgia.

Full squad:

Goalkeepers: Unai Simon, Kepa Arrizabalaga, David Raya

Defenders: Dani Carvajal, Cesar Azpilicueta, Robin Le Normand, David Garcia, Pau Torres, Aymeric Laporte, Alejandro Balde, Jose Gaya

Midfielders: Rodrigo Hernandez, Gavi, Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi, Alex Baena, Fabian Ruiz

Forwards: Alvaro Morata, Joselu Mato, Marco Asensio, Dani Olmo, Nico Williams, Abel Ruiz, Lamine Yamal.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu