World Cup 2018: 5 Spain Players Who Should Have Been Selected

#2 Sergi Roberto

Sergi Roberto

At the age of 26, youth academy product Sergi Roberto has done well for himself to break into a star-studded Barcelona lineup. Former manager Luis Enrique placed his faith in the young player in 2015 when his future was in doubt and playing at the Camp Nou week-in and week-out is a privilege he definitely understands better than many.

This season, however, he has had to fight for his position. New signing Nelson Semedo was hoping to break-in as well but Roberto turned into the obvious choice as starting right-back.

He made a total of 48 appearances for the Blaugrana in the 2017/18 season, 30 of which came in the league. He was a vital part of the cog that lost just one game on their way to lifting the La Liga title with a mammoth 93 points.

Furthermore, the player has been instrumental and a key figure in some of the more important games Barcelona has played this year. However, this is not the first time he has been dropped.

During their friendlies against Germany and Argentina, Lopetegui was questioned over his decision to leave out Roberto and the Spanish manager confirmed that they preferred to have a 'specific right-back'. The coaching staff has singled out Dani Carvajal as the starting right-back, with youngster Alvaro Odriozla as a backup.

The manager did confirm then that the gates have not closed on the Barcelona player's international future and World Cup selection, but it looks like he has definitely locked it and thrown the key away at this point.