Balde has landed in Qatar and is now available for Luis Enrique

Jose Luis Gaya was left out of the Spanish national team for the World Cup in Qatar due to a slight ankle sprain. To replace him, Luis Enrique opted for Barcelona's Alex Balde. The young full-back is already in Doha with the rest of his team-mates. He landed at around 16:00 on Saturday, when he was warmly welcomed by the coach and his fellow countrymen. They have to make him adapt immediately.
In this sense, the presence of Sergio Busquets will be essential. The captain of Spain also wears the armband at the Camp Nou, so he knows the youth player very well and will try to introduce him to the players he knows less well. This will not be difficult and even less so with other players such as Pedri, Gavi or Marcos Alonso with whom he already shares a dressing room at Barca.
"Welcome, Balde!!! The full-back is already with the national team in Qatar. Alejandro Balde landed at around 4pm at Doha's Hamad International Airport on a flight from Barcelona," reads the text that the Federation published to announce that Xavi Hernandez's defender is now available for training with his national team. He arrives in great shape and straight from the U21s.
What is still up in the air is whether he will start against Costa Rica. It would not be surprising. Luis Enrique, against Jordan in the last friendly before the World Cup, had to move Aymeric Laporte to the side of his defence to cover Gaya's absence and, as a result, chose Eric García and Pau Torres as centre-backs. Perhaps, with Balde in the squad, he will alter these plans.