Barcelona breakout midfield star set to wear national team colours after nearly five years | OneFootball

Marc Casado (21) has emerged as one of Barcelona’s most influential players in the ongoing season, playing an important role in their brilliant start thus far.

The La Masia graduate has capitalised on the midfield absences in the Blaugrana squad and has become one of the standout performers in Hansi Flick’s system.

Casado’s performances with the first team have not gone unnoticed, and the academy graduate is now all set to return to playing for the Spanish national youth team after nearly five years, reports Mundo Deportivo.

Indeed, Santi Denia has called Casado up alongside Pablo Torre for the Under-21 European Championship qualifiers. Spain Under-21 are set to face will face Kazakhstan in Cadiz and Malta in Algeciras.

Casado to play for Spain Under-21 over the next week. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

To find Casado’s last call-up to Spain’s youth categories, we must go back to February 2020. During that period, he participated in the Algarve U17 International Tournament, playing in all matches against Germany, South Korea, and Portugal.

However, his only start came against the Asian nation, a match in which Alejandro Balde also featured in the starting eleven.

Casado came close to making a direct jump from the Under-17s to the senior national team. Luis de la Fuente included him in the preliminary list for the Nations League Group Stage this month, but ultimately opted for other choices.

As a result, Casado will make his Under-21 debut after more than four years without wearing the Spanish national team colors.