Madrid

The next couple of friendly games for Spain, against Germany and Argentina, should give Julen Lopetegui ample opportunity to size up the relative merits of his star-studded squad.

In what will perhaps be the last tournament to feature some of Spain’s ‘golden generation,’ the coach has to call it just right if he wants La Roja to make a dent in the latter stages.

Injuries permitting, there are some names that are already non-negotiable, but as always there’ll be a chance for others to make a late claim.

Prior to the new year, Alvaro Morata would’ve been one of the first players on the list as he’d taken to the Premier League with Chelsea like a duck to water.

Diego Costa was a distant memory for Blues fans once the former Real Madrid man kept banging the goals in. Sadly, the honeymoon was all too brief.

Costa has been reborn since being back on the pitch for Atletico Madrid, whilst Morata’s form has deserted him. Not even an FA Cup goal against Leicester this past weekend changes that.

Yes, it was a fine finish, made possible by the pace and vision of Willian, but the centre-forward needs to do a lot more in order to prove his worth to the Spanish World Cup squad.

An intelligent striker, Morata’s movement of late has been almost amateurish. Ditto his finishing.

Creating space and goal scoring opportunities that were coming naturally to him before Christmas has become a huge problem, and in a World Cup year, the last thing you want as a player is to be lacking in confidence and trying too hard.

But for precisely those reasons, Morata has been edged out of the Chelsea starting XI by new signing Olivier Giroud.

Far too often we’re told by coaches that they only pick the man in form when it comes to tournament football, and then when the time comes to announce the selections, the same old faces populate the squad.

Not this time.

Lopetegui needs to put a marker down, otherwise, what message is he sending to the likes of Celta Vigo’s Iago Aspas, Atleti’s Vitolo and others? Players who are in decent club form.

With less than 10 club games left in Morata’s domestic season, he barely has time to push his way onto the plane for Russia. Can he really rediscover his early season form and be consistent throughout this intervening period?

If not, and Lopetegui is a man of his word, he’ll leave Morata at home.