No Barça player in the U-21s "new era"

Spain U-21s will start a new era on Friday 1 September with a game against Italy when the ‘generation of 96’ will make their debut, as the manager Albert Celades has explained.

He has named a 21 man squad for the two games against Italy and then against Estonia in Tallinn on 5 September, the first qualifier for Euro 2019.

At a press conference, Celades explained why several new players, some of whom have never played for a Spain side before, have been called up. “What they’ve been doing with their clubs has grabbed our attention. That’s why we’ve brought them in but there’s still a lot of uncertainties, there are players who are not here who could be,” Celades said, adding “we’re going to try to get it right as much as possible because in a competition like the one we have, there is no margin for error. Only one team qualifies, the qualifiers are very difficult and complex and it may not be possible to fix an error”.

The squad is:

Goalkeepers: Antonio Sivera (Alavés), Unai Simón (Athletic de Bilbao) ande Ivan Villar (Celta).

Outfield players: Pablo Maffeo (Girona); Pol Lirola (Sassuolo); Unai Núñez (Athletic de Bilbao); Jorge Saenz (Tenerife); Jorge Meré (Colonia); Aaron Martín (Español); Antonio Latorre (Lato),Carlos Soler (Valencia), Rodrigo Hernández (Rodri) and Pablo Fornals (Villarreal); Mikel Merino ((Newcastle); Dani Ceballos y Borja Mayoral (Real Madrid); Mikel Oyarzábal (Real Sociedad); Alfonso Pedraza (Alavés); Matías Nahuel (Betis); Brahim Adelkader Díaz (Manchester City) and Marc Gual (Sevilla).

No Barcelona player has been selected.