(Football news) Barcelona left back Alejandro Balde has been called up to Spain's World Cup squad to replace injured Jose Luis Gaya. Valencia left-back Jose Gaya apparently sprained his ankle in training on Wednesday and will be out for around 10 days which meant that he would be ruled out of the group games against Costa Rica and Germany. Luis Enrique considered keeping Gaya in the squad but on Friday he decided to call up Balde ahead of their opening game against Costa Rica at the Al Thumama Stadium on Wednesday.

Barcelona’s Jordi Alba is the only other available left-back in the team, while Manchester City's Aymeric Laporte played at left back for an hour in Thursday's friendly win over Jordan. Balde, who recently turned 19 has never played for Spain at senior level and had been due to play for the U21s against Japan on Friday before he was called up to the World Cup squad. He also got picked over teammate Marcos Alonso, who has only played six times for Spain under Luis Enrique. With Balde in the team it takes the total number of Barca players in La Roja's squad to eight players, which is subsequently the largest pool of players from just one club. There had been growing rumours for Balde's inclusion in the World Cup squad in the build-up to the tournament but Gaya and Alba were preferred over him initially.

Former Barca manager Ronald Koeman handed his first-team debut last year and he has since consolidated his place in Xavi Hernandez's side this season, often keeping out the likes of Alba and Alonso. Balde has been at the Barcelona academy since 2011 and has made 16 appearances in all competitions this season, playing predominately as a left-back but also playing as a right-back due to injuries elsewhere in defence. Spain, who were the 2010 winners, start their World Cup campaign against Costa Rica before their crucial games against Germany and Japan for a place in the knockout rounds in Qatar. Luis Enrique's side played a warm- up match before for the tournament as they won 3-1 over Jordan on Thursday, with Ansu Fati, Gavi and Nico Williams all on the scoresheet.

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