Dani Olmo, Luis de la Fuente’s doubts | German Eurocup 2024

“Incoming call, Luis de la Fuente.” Dani Olmo’s phone often rings with the Spanish coach, especially when the RB Leipzig player is injured. “Luis always wants to know how Dani is,” the coaching staff say. A situation that was repeated three times last season after Olmo missed 29 games and spent 111 days in the hospital. Problem-solution for De la Fuente. “Dani will arrive fresh for the EuroCup,” they warned. staff Red coach. However, the freshness turned into a lack of competitive rhythm, and Dani Olmo started the Euros on the bench. But something changed against Albania: a 10th-place finish rattled the substitutes and sowed doubt in De la Fuente. And it seemed like they had an untouchable starting lineup.

“He’s a top-level player, fantastic,” praised De la Fuente to Dani Olmo after the last game against Albania. The Catalan finished his first game in the starting lineup with an assist, four shots (two on target) and an 83% success rate for his passes. He also completed three successful dribbles in three attempts and won 100% of his duels. “That’s a value vertexbut this is a team and they know how to take on their role at any moment. “Dani is talented, but he is a team player, he puts the common good before the individual,” insisted De la Fuente. The coach knows that replacing Olmo will not cause any problems in the group – harmony in the dressing room is one of his main weapons – but it will happen in his head.

“We do not rule out that Dani may join the team. He is a player who can interpret different match scenarios and can adapt to different positions on the pitch. He can play between the lines, he can go out on the flank,” the coaching staff explains. It is not new that, since staff The technical highlight is the versatility of Dani Olmo, De la Fuente’s favourite player since they met in the U-19 team, the 2019 European champions. In the final against Germany, Olmo was named the MVP of the match. Two years later, the Catalan coached La Rojita to silver in Tokyo.

The future in Spain had become the present, so when De la Fuente joined the senior team, there was a mentality in the football city of Las Rozas that seemed unbreakable in the coaching staff: “Dani Olmo, plus 10”. Sometimes as a striker, sometimes as an inside forward, and in some games as a midfielder, Olmo was always important to the coach. However, it so happened that the player, who trained in the Barça youth team, arrived at the Nations League touched. The same situation as in the Euros.

And Dani Olmo made every effort to reach Germany on time. Two days before the end of the Bundesliga, Spain’s number 10 asked RB Leipzig to release him. The German company, which is looking for a contract extension for him (he has a clause of 60 million that must be fulfilled by July 15), wanted to pamper the Catalan, who is being eyed by Barcelona, ​​Manchester City, Liverpool and Bayern. Munich. Although he understands that his future is already far from Leipzig, he simply wanted to forget about his physical discomfort. He was the first to arrive in Las Rozas, along with Cucurella and Subimendi. On Wednesday the 29th they worked in the afternoon, on Thursday the 30th they did a double workout, and on Friday the 31st they trained in the morning. During these three days he stayed in a hotel in Madrid, and on July 1 he joined the entire Spanish expedition (only the Real Madrid players who won the Champions League and Laporte were absent) to the La Roja concentration.

Specific plan

“We have drawn up a concrete work plan for Dani,” the federation says. In the first match against Croatia, Olmo started on the bench: 31 minutes. In the match against Italy, he did not even come onto the pitch. “It is true that he did not have a great game against Croatia,” they lament from Donaueschingen. The unprecedented happened with the number 10: he came on as a substitute for De la Fuente. “It was strange, because Dani is the coach’s right eye,” says the La Roja player.

But Nico Williams and Lamin Yamal flew on wings, and Pedri looked into Pedri’s mirror. Dani Olmo was then left without a place in De la Fuente’s ideal eleven in Germany. “If I can’t prove myself on the field, I’ll have to do it in training,” warned Dani Olmo. And the effort in the preparatory classes increased. In the fight against Albania, his time had come. This time, unlike La Roja’s debut against Croatia in Berlin, they made no mistake.

Dani Olmo is asking for a place in the starting lineup for the match with Georgia. And now the problem lies with De la Fuente.

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