The situation
The Federation, with its president Luis Rubiales at the helm, wants the situation on the Spanish bench to be resolved as soon as possible and, if possible, before the weekend. Luis Enrique has been sending signals of his goodbye for months and has shown signs of exhaustion , both of his idea and of his methods, during the World Cup. For this reason, the RFEF sports director, José Francisco Molina, has been looking for alternatives to Luis Enrique for a long time. At the moment there are two well-placed coaches to replace him: Marcelino García-Toral and Luis de la Fuente , current Under-21 coach. But they are not the only ones, Molina is also considering other options ranging from Roberto Martínez to Rafa Benítez. What the RFEF has to resolve is the goodbye of Luis Enrique. As far as possible, in an ideal scenario, it would be best to fire him at a joint event in Las Rozas, with all the honors . But it does not seem easy to be so. Luis Enrique’s character does not make things easier, and even more so after learning that the Federation is not satisfied with any of his actions, and some of his collaborators, during the concentration in Qatar. In Las Rozas, Luis Enrique, the challenger before the media, has not liked his interventions, nor that of any of his collaborators, on Twitch. They think that this public exposure has not benefited the image of the RFEF, which also wanted to always be on the sidelines of the ‘streamer’ Luis Enrique.
The details
But regardless of what Luis Enrique has done away from the pitch, he is also questioned for the purely sporting results. In the Federation they recognize the work of having formed a team, but a team that has not achieved its objectives mainly because it has lacked offensive capacity . The Asturian has not improved the results of Russia 2018, and the World Cup is the one that marks the final note of the coaches. The candidates to replace Luis Enrique, Marcelino and De la Fuente, are different both in their character and in their sporting proposal. Marcelino has more experience with top level players and a strong personality. De la Fuente is one more man of the house, ‘from a company’, who would do continuity work with a group that he led to the highest levels in lower categories but which has crashed in the elite. De la Fuente, of course, is not from Twich. Marcelino, neither. Luis de la Fuente could be chosen and would have a margin until the Nations League, in June . There his capacity would be tested and, if it worked, it would be renewed. In such a case, Marcelino, who has rejected several offers from important clubs to be a coach, would have to wait for a better occasion.