Luis Enrique's clues about his future

Vicente del Bosque usually says that the player supervises everything the coach does or says and that this sibylline examination is daily.

During these four days of concentration in the Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas, the Spanish internationals make their jokes when they see the most casual Luis Enrique, without a shirt and barefoot on the training ground at the end of the sessions.

They also joke around with that loudspeaker he has placed on their backs so they don't have to shout from the scaffolding from which he directs the intensive tactical work sessions.

The invention is an influence of the cycling earpiece, the sport that drives the coach crazy.

However, it is in his speech on the importance of qualifying for the Nations League final four that some have sharpened their interpretations.

Part of the group, including some of the oldest, is struck by the fact that the coach from Gijón is included when he emphasizes how important it would be to be the first team to get into the final phase of the still emerging tournament for the second time in a row and also, to conquer it.

The “if we qualify and win it” that he pronounces when referring to the objective in which he influences so much is being read in the locker room in the key of a hypothetical continuity of the coach.

His contract ends after the World Cup in Qatar and the final four of the third edition of the League of Nations will be played in mid-June 2023, so his presence,

In the previous meeting last June, his request to the group focused more on demanding a last effort from the players for the four games they had to play in just ten days after the exhausting season at their clubs.

In this coexistence, Luis Enrique has told them not to think about the World Cup, for which there are two months left, and to play without fear of getting injured in these two decisive matches, tomorrow against Switzerland, in La Romareda, and on Tuesday, against Portugal , in Braga.

Spain leads the group with a point advantage over the Portuguese team and with a victory against Switzerland and a draw in the neighboring country it would be classified.

The unknown is whether or not Luis Enrique will culminate the persecuted conquest of the League of Nations.

Both the president of the federation, Luis Rubiales, and the sports director, José Francisco Molina, reached an agreement some time ago not to discuss with Luis Enrique his continuity or his departure until after the World Cup.

The two would sign today to extend the relationship and agreed to maintain the uncertainty until the conclusion of the World Cup in Qatar.

The daring and attractive style imposed by Luis Enrique, his label as a leading coach for the paradigm of football that is unfolding today and having revitalized a team that came from failure to failure of the last big events are the arguments used by the federation to wish the continuity of the technician.

Molina, as the person in charge of looking for a new coach if the case arises, has always made light of the fact that Luis Enrique's resignation forces him to hire a new coach despite the fact that the market, between December and June 30, may be limited because a candidate is working in your club.

If that were the case, the sports director would have no problem handing over the command of the team to the U-21 coach, Luis de la Fuente, to face, in March,

the first qualifying matches for the European Championship in Germany 2024 and for the aforementioned final four of the League of Nations, in June.

Among the federal employees, the continuity or not of Luis Enrique has become a matter of disparate bets.

All based on assumptions because secrecy, until now, has been the watchword.

In a corridor one can say emphatically that he will not continue and 200 meters further on another affirms that he will end up renewing.

Marcellin

Luis Enrique has never denied being delighted with his role as coach, but he has always referred to the feelings he has after finishing the World Cup.

After his time at Barcelona, ​​in which he won the treble in 2015, he has revalued himself in this stage as Spanish coach.

Some of the big clubs in the Premier League follow him closely and some like Arsenal already tempted him before he decided to return after leaving office due to the death of his daughter.

In Spain, he is also an attractive piece for Atlético de Madrid if Diego Pablo Simeone decided not to exhaust his contract until 2024. Luis Enrique was the coach chosen by Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, as he recently assured this newspaper, before hiring by Simeone in December 2011.

The agreement was total and was only conditional on the Italian economic authorities accepting or rejecting the purchase of Roma by the American tycoon James Pallotta, with whom Luis Enrique had made a commitment.

The operation was able to materialize and the Asturian coach did not miss his commitment to Pallotta.

Meanwhile, just in case, Molina works on the two possible scenarios.

If Luis Enrique finally chooses to leave, there are replacement names that sound strong at the federation headquarters, such as Marcelino García Toral, without a team since he left Athletic at the end of last season.

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