Spain manager Luis de la Fuente left Barcelona’s 17-year-old defender Pau Cubarsi and midfielders Marcos Llorente and Aleix Garcia out of his 26-man squad for the European Championship on Friday.

Cubarsi’s consistency and ability to play the ball out from the back made him one of the breakout players in La Liga this season.

Yet that was not enough to earn him a spot at Euro 2024 as De la Fuente decided to stick with a more seasoned group of centre-backs in Robin Le Normand, Nacho Fernandez, Aymeric Laporte and Dani Vivian.

Former Manchester City defender Laporte, 30, has been one of the biggest question marks surrounding De la Fuente’s squad since he fell out of favour with City manager Pep Guardiola and moved to Al Nassr last year.

After being left out of the Euro 2024 squad, Cubarsi now is expected to make Spain’s Olympic selection that will compete in Paris after winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Games.

Former Newcastle United and Leicester City forward Ayoze Perez, who chipped in with a goal and an assist on his international debut at the age of 30 in Wednesday’s 5-0 friendly win over Andorra, was one of the surprise names in a squad that will travel to Germany with eight attackers.

The other surprise was Barcelona’s 21-year-old midfielder Fermin Lopez, who also made his debut on Wednesday and came off the bench to provide an assist and inject the same energy into Spain. He was one of the few bright spots in Barcelona’s disappointing trophyless 2023-24 campaign.

He will join club teammate Pedri, who has been struggling with nagging muscle issues, and Rodri, who helped City win a record fourth successive Premier League title, among a solid group of midfielders.

Spain start their Euro campaign on June 15 against Croatia in Group B.