Luis de la Fuente was born in Haro, La Rioja, in 1961 and was earlier today announced as the new manager of the Spain national team.
The new man in charge will begin his spell in charge of Spain in March in the qualifiers for Euro 2024 in Germany and will take on Norway and Scotland in his first two games.
De la Fuente will be familiar with most of the current Spain squad from the Olympic Games and from other roles with the Spanish national team, where he began working in 2013.
Unai Simón, Eric García, Pau Torres, Pedri, Carlos Soler and Dani Olmo were among those called up for the Tokyo Olympics with La Roja.
Hugo Guillamón and Yeremy Pino played under De la Fuente in the U21 side. Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde was called up from De la Fuente’s latest squad by Luis Enrique after José Gayà’s injury before the 2022 World Cup began in Qatar.
Forwards Nico Williams and Ferran Torres have also played their parts in his setup.
Real Sociedad players Mikel Oyarzabal and Mikel Merino, who missed out on going to Qatar, were also key players in several of the winning teams put together by the coach from northern Spain.
As noted by Diario AS, in 2015, he won the European Championship with the U19s. Current senior internationals Rodri, Unai Simón and Marco Asensio were in that winning team.
With De la Fuente, there will be a smooth transition after the departure of Luis Enrique. He is a coach who also enjoys a possession-based style of football, but whose teams can mix it up with more direct play from wide positions.
GSFN | Kieran Quaile
