Another great generation of Spanish players could lead to domination of European football

Another winning generation

Worry

It is a bit of a worry really because their full international side is hardly ageing and now their under twenty-one side have swept all before them and won the European Championships as well. Unless the rest of us up our games considerably, Spain could dominate European and world football for a few years to come.

As we all know, Spain are the reigning World and European Champions. A look at their squad shows that there are not too many people who will need to be replaced any time soon.

Keepers

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas is thirty years old now, but we all know that keepers can go on well into their thirties. He shouldn’t need replacing soon but even if he did, Pepe Reina is a couple of years younger and then there is David de Gea, only twenty, who looks set to become the new Manchester United keeper.

Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique are twenty-five and twenty-four respectively. Busquets is twenty-two and Pedro is twenty-three. The great Andres Iniesta is only twenty-seven and at thirty-one, Xavi probably has a couple of years left in him at the very top of his game. When he steps aside, Cesc Fabregas, at just twenty-four is patiently waiting in the wings.

Slowing

David Villa is twenty-nine and shows no signs of slowing down. If Torres recovers some form, he is still only twenty-seven and could have many more international goals ahead of him.

So the full Spanish international team is likely to be as good as it is for some time to come and the younger players will continue to get better.

Better

Now, as well as that lot, we are faced with a new generation of Spanish players who appear to be better than their counterparts across Europe.

The twenty year old Thiago looks to be a player with a fantastic future ahead of him. He has played a few games for Barcelona and at any other club, he would have a team built around him. Juan Mata, at twenty-three, another player who continues to impress. I could go on, but to suffice to say, Spain has another group of players who could achieve big things.

Recreate

It is now up to the rest of Europe to look at the acadamies of the Spanish clubs and try to recreate the success they are achieving. The rest of us have to strive to reach the standards that they are setting. It won’t be easy, but if we don’t, it could soon become a matter of trying to work out which country are going to come second in the big tournaments.