Dani Olmo has a close relationship with Croatian football and spent the first years of his senior career at GNK Dinamo – but he is a lot of Spanish. And that is a fact that he made clear seven years ago, as he recently revealed.
According to GQ (via MD), Olmo opened an approach of the Croatian football federation before the World Cup 2018, which he set off to wait for his chance with La Roja, who eventually arrived the following year.
'I am Spanish and I have always felt it. Croatia wanted to nationalize me for the 2018 World Cup. Maybe they offered me more security, but I knew the chance would come from Spain. When I saw them reaching the final against France, I was very happy, but I never thought I could have been there or that I might have made a mistake. I had been to the U21s and my dream was to play for Spain – you can't change that for a World Cup. “
Olmo also spoke about the decision he made in La Masia to exchange Barcelona for Dinamo. He saw a much better chance of going to Croatia instead of sitting down, and it finally worked out when he returned to Catalonia last summer.
“When Dinamo came for me, I would make the switch from cadet to youth. It would have been normal to follow a team in England or to go, but my dream was to play for Barcelona. At that moment I did not feel that they would trust me in the future. Dinamo convinced me with a project in the short and medium term, I trained with professionals and I knew it was best for me. “
Comments