Morocco wins over Brahim and De la Fuente accuses player of demanding privileges
Bells about Brahim's future had been ringing for months. Morocco's fourth place finish at the World Cup in Qatar and its football project culminating in the shared organisation of the 2030 World Cup together with Spain and Portugal have made the North African team a much more interesting option for those very few players who can choose a country.
Such is the case of Brahim Díaz, the Real Madrid midfielder of Moroccan descent who will defend the Atlas Lions for the rest of his playing career, as it emerged on Sunday before and after Real Madrid's match against Celta Vigo at the Bernabéu.
The Spanish-Moroccan player excelled at Milan and came through the youth ranks of the Spanish national team, even making his debut in that match marked by the numerous absences of the first-choice players due to COVID. De la Fuente is one of the coaches who has called up the player the most, but, incomprehensibly, has not wanted to hear anything about him once in charge of the senior team.
In his entourage, they expected more interest from someone in charge of the Federation, either from De la Fuente himself, or from the director of football, Albert Luque, who does not seem to know anything about this matter. The coach himself wanted to express his opinion after the decision to defend Morocco: "I have not spoken to Brahim. I call or I don't call and then people do what they have to do. I'm not going to talk any more. I have probably been the coach who has selected him the most. I appreciate him and I wish him the best. Everyone is free to make the decisions they make. Total and absolute respect".
It has been leaked from the RFEF that Brahim demanded to know if he was going to be called up in the next Spain squad for the friendlies against Colombia and Brazil and that this demand has not been allowed. What's more, the newspaper AS explains that Brahim and his representatives had asked months beforehand to know Spain's plans for the player in order to make a decision with all the arguments.
Morocco has moved more and better. Walid Regragui included him in his call-up that uncovered this case and from the highest levels of the Moroccan Federation he was offered a project at the highest level with him as Morocco's star player for the 2030 World Cup. That projection that the RFEF has lacked due to his obvious leadership problems is what has led Brahim to choose to join the Atlas Lions and he will be included next Thursday in Morocco's squad to face Angola (22 March) and Mauritania (26 March).
From Las Rozas, members of the highest Spanish football body have leaked that a pre-list was sent to Real Madrid in which Brahim was included, something that Real Madrid has been quick to deny through the media, although not officially.
The consequences of all this are unbeatable for Morocco. Regragui has added to his squad of players such as Bono, Achraf, En-Nesyri and Ziyech a skilful midfielder who will eventually become Real Madrid's first-choice midfielder.
