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#4 Mariano Díaz Mejía (Dominican Republic)
The Olympique Lyon striker has made no secret of his desire to don the red shirt of Spain and has made himself unavailable for selection in his native Dominican Republic as he continues his efforts to make the Spanish team.
On being available for a La Furia call-up, Diaz had this to say:
“I would love to one day play with Spain and I will fight with everything I have to make sure that it happens”
He plays in a position where there is space for competition given the drop in form of players like FC Barcelona’s Paco Alcacer.
Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa who is yet to kick a ball in anger this season and his replacement at Chelsea; Alvaro Morata are the only conceivable candidates for the top striker’s role under coach Julen Lopetegui.
Díaz has been having a phenomenal season in Ligue 1 since his €8 million (plus 35% interest on the capital gain of a potential future move) transfer to Olympique Lyon from Real Madrid, scoring 9 goals from 14 appearances in the league and in the Europa League.
Blessed with height, brilliant aerial ability and a poacher’s instinct, if he continues to score as he has been doing for Les Gones, expect the cries for his call-up to increase many fold.
