Spain’s national team coach, Vicente del Bosque, conscious of the luxury of leaving out one of the best of his kind, has decided it might be worth including FC Barcelona goalkeeper Víctor Valdés (28) in his list of players for the World Cup.

Catalán news site Sport has reported that Del Bosque may be reconsidering his initial choice to not include Valdés in his squad list for the World Cup in Africa this summer. All will depend on a meeting to be held between the coach and the player that will serve to clarify some details.

The prolonged absence of Valdés in the list of called-up players is already an old debate.  At 28 years of age, Víctor has yet to be included among la Roja, despite demonstrating that he is one of the three best keepers in Spain and among the elite of Europe.  In addition, the blaugrana internationals have endorsed their keeper from l’Hospitalet of Llobregat before the Spanish Federation (RFEF) as a tireless worker and good teammate in the locker room.

Irreproachable both on and off the playing field, prudent in his declarations each time the question of la selección has been put before him, Valdés has admitted that he dreams of one day being included on the list of Del Bosque. All of these details have caused the Spanish national team coach to reconsider if it is not a grave error to omit one of the best Spanish players in la Liga.

In the Euro Cup 2008, Andrés Palop was the third choice keeper behind Iker Casillas and Pepe Reina, the two constants on the list of called up goalkeepers.  Since the Confederations Cup last summer, Diego López has taken the role of third keeper.

Now that the end of the season and the deadline for the definitive squad list are approaching, Del Bosque feels, in part, a prisoner of his latest decisions of how to proceed, given how many good goalkeepers are available.  However, the sustained trajectory of  Valdés, particularly in the latest campaigns that have seemed so spectacular, would make it appear a luxury to leave him out of the list of World Cup players for Spain.

The trainers of the Spanish Federation are giving him a serious assessment, including contemplating  the possibility of calling him up for the friendly against France that took place in Saint Denis.  They decided against it at the last moment because Vicente del Bosque and Fernando Hierro, technical director of  RFEF, want to meet face to face with Víctor Valdés.

The objective of this meeting would be to get to know the Barça goalkeeper firsthand - his disposition and how he would handle his role in the group, which at the beginning would be as third choice keeper behind Casillas and Reina. It might seem strange that those responsible for the selection want to listen to Valdés before making a decision; this dialogue may be a result of some negative reports that have been generated about him, attributing to him certain unjust attitudes towards his teammates, the coaches, and including, on occasion, concerns about his predisposition to play for Spain. None of this is true, but they want to talk directly with him.

On the other hand, it is not strange that Del Bosque interviews some of the players he might call up, much as he did with Jesús Navas of Sevilla before including him in la selección. What works against Valdés is the lack of time, since after the duel between France and Spain, the team will not play another friendly until the end of the clubs’ season.  It will be then when Del Bosque will make known his final list of internationals for the World Cup.