Puyol adds to Del Bosque's worries

VICENTE DEL BOSQUE has cast a huge doubt on whether striker David Villa can complete his recovery from a broken leg in time to be included in his squad for the Euro 2012 with the Spanish coach admitting “it is very hard to call up someone who cannot play even one match”.

On the day that he learned central defender Carles Puyol is to have a knee operation that is likely to sideline him for the entirety of the tournament, Del Bosque, who has previously said he will give Villa “until the very last minute” to prove his fitness, admitted he is losing hope that 30-year-old Villa will make it.

“He is a serious doubt,” he told a Spanish newspaper. “We are very worried. It is very complicated now to see David being at the European championships.”

Sources close to Villa have suggested that the striker has continued to make progress in training and the player has apparently targeted Barcelona’s Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao on May 25th as his make-or-break opportunity to prove his fitness to the national team coach following the injury he picked up at the World Club Championsips in December.

Spain’s preliminary squad for the tournament, however, is due to be named next Tuesday with the actual travelling party scheduled to be finalised on May 27th.

Clearly things are now incredibly tight for Villa, whose importance to the squad, with seven goals in qualifying and five at the last World Cup finals, is beyond question, but Del Bosque has some fairly enviable options.

He acknowledged again this week that Raul has made a case for inclusion with his Bundesliga form for FC Schalke 04 while Fernando Torres has been finding the net more regularly for Chelsea again although they, and various others, are probably currently behind in-form Valencia strike Roberto Soldado, who scored a second-half hat-trick against Venezuela in a friendly back in February, in the pecking order.

He has a fair bit of back up in defence too, of course, but the loss of the inspirational Puyol is still a considerable setback with the big 34-year-old considered one of the team’s key leaders as well as a good technical player and an important physical presence.

“This is a big setback,” said Del Bosque of the news that the player is to have an operation on his right knee this Saturday after undergoing tests on Monday prompted by the pain he experienced in the wake of Barcelona’s 4-0 win over Espanyol last Saturday.

“He will be missed, not just for what he brings to the team on the pitch but also for what he brings to the group off it.

“It is a pity too for Carles that it has happened when he is so close to making his 100th appearance (Puyol has 99 caps). It looked like providing a great finale to his season because he has been playing well and he is a fixture in the team but I hope that he can still make it to this landmark.”

The loss of Puyol would mean a slight shift in the make up of the Spanish team towards Real Madrid with one possible solution for Del Bosque being to switch Sergio Ramos from right back to central defence and bring in his club-mate Alvaro Arbeloa.

The manager did not categorically rule the defender out of the tournament but with his recovery expected to take six weeks, his assistant, Toni Grande, said that it is “impossible” Puyol, who also missed much of the qualifying tournament through injury, would return in time.

“We were speechless,” said Grande when asked about getting the call from the defender on Monday to relay the news. Puyol is a key player for his experience and his courage.

“It’s a real shame but there are two more games now (Spain are, in fact, officially scheduled to play three games in the lead up to the championships, against South Korea, China and Serbia) and we have to hope that nothing else happens now.”