Barcelona left-back Alejandro Balde has been called up to Spain's World Cup squad at the eleventh hour to replace the injured Jose Gaya.
Balde has been a regular in Spain's under-21 squad but has yet to make a senior appearance for his country. He was tipped to break into Luis Enrique's squad for the tournament in Qatar but missed out on a place in the initial squad, which was named last week.
But the 19-year-old has been given the nod to replace Gaya, who will miss the tournament after spraining his ankle in training on Wednesday. The Valencia full-back was expected to be sidelined for around 10 days, but Enrique has decided to axe the 27-year-old and draft in Balde.
