World Cup: Spain’s limp exit is the end for Luis Enrique, says PETE JENSON

‘More possible exits than a metro station’, this is how Luis Enrique summed up his future before Spain’s defeat on penalties against Morocco.

The coach’s contract expires at the end of this year and he has never shown any intention of signing a new one. The Spanish Football Federation has also been lukewarm when it comes to persuading him, especially now that his campaign in Qatar has ended in failure.

So it looks like it’s time to choose a way out. The first will be to go home, where he plans to arrive late Wednesday afternoon.

Luis Enrique’s contract ends at the end of 2022 and it seems unlikely that either party will extend it

Jordi Alba (left) and Sergio Busquets (right) will leave through the selection door

“Right now I just want to be with my people and my dogs,” she said.

Then the proposals will begin to arrive. It is unlikely that he will take a job before the end of the season, by which time events at clubs across Europe will dictate who he wants to take over.

If Xavi ends the trophyless season in Barcelona with little obvious progress since last season, Joan Laporta will try to persuade him to return to Barcelona, ​​where he won the treble in 2015.

If Diego Simeone’s situation at Atlético de Madrid has become untenable despite his contract until 2024, then they will try to take him to the capital. He will turn down both if the right offer comes through from England. It’s where he regrets never playing as a player and it’s where he wants to work as a coach.

Achraf Hakimi (centre) was the winning goal for Morocco as they knocked Spain out of the World Cup.

Whoever replaces him as Spain coach is now in the hands of kingmaker Luis Ruibales who seems to have two clear candidates and a couple of wild cards.

The president of the Spanish Federation could name Luis de la Fuente, the current Spain Under-21 coach.

It would be the most economical and well-placed option to promote some of the stalwarts of his U-21 team such as Real Sociedad with midfielder Martín Zubimendi and Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella, perfect to replace veterans Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. .

The doubt about De la Fuente would be his lack of experience at the highest level. He played for Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla in the top flight but never trained there.

The head of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales (left), can move on to the head of the Under-21s, Luis de la Fuente (right), below

One man who has coached in the top flight and won trophies is Marcelino, who is available after parting ways with Athletic Bilbao at the end of last season due to the arrival of a new president.

Xabi Alonso and Roberto Martínez are the wild cards, but the former has just started his career as a club manager and the latter led Belgium to an even worse tournament than Spain, possibly with better resources.

Two of the best players in the history of Spain will leave with the coach. With so many emerging options at left-back, such as Cucurella, Fran García del Rayo and Alejandro Balde from Barcelona, ​​it seems unthinkable that Alba would not step aside.

The man who scored in Spain’s 4-0 final win over Italy has been the nation’s best left-back for years and performed well in Qatar, but at 33 his international career appears to be over.

The former Spanish midfielder and current Bayern Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso would be a wild card

His Barcelona teammate Busquets could leave the club and the country at the end of this season.

The foundations on which Vicente del Bosque built the World Cup success in South Africa in 2010 have been left empty for some time and his last kick in international football seems to be that soft penalty saved by the Moroccan Bono. When he steps down, he will rightly be hailed as Spain’s best in what will come to be called ‘the Busquets position’ for years to come.

For others this has only just begun. Pedri just turned 20 and Gavi just 18. They are two-thirds of Spain’s midfield for the next decade.

Balde is only 19 years old, Ansu Fati has time on his side at only 20 and Nico Williams is the same age.

Ansu Fati played his first World Cup and is part of a group meeting experience

For 20 of the players on Enrique’s squad this was their first World Cup and there will be many more.

It may not be decided anytime soon who will take them next. If De la Fuente gets the nod, Rubiales could err on the side of caution with a shorter contract.

The new coach probably won’t be broadcasting his thoughts on Twitch or the 2026 equivalent throughout the tournament, but he will benefit from the legacy of the man who did.