Will he ever get his deserved first international cap?

However, regular Spain starters Capdevilla and Alba are also pacy and skilled passers when they are in attacking mode. Where Enrique outshines those two wingers-cum-full-backs is in his defensive awareness. Enrique will only bomb forward down that left side when he is comfortable that there is cover in the space behind him from the likes of defensive midfielder Lucas Leiva.

Enrique also tracks back effectively and, as already noted, has developed a good understanding with both of the left wingers who have played in front of him. He times his challenges well when players run at him, rarely committing fouls and is calm under pressure, often coolly dealing with any attention from opposition players using step-overs to keep possession and move the ball on and away from danger.

The reason often given for a lack of a Jose Enrique international call-up is that the Spain manager Vicente del Bosque tends to pick the majority of his players from those playing in La Liga. To an extent, this is understandable. After all, the two best teams in club football right now are Barcelona and Real Madrid so it is no surprise that the majority of the Spanish national side is made up of players from those two clubs.

However, it should be noted that Manchester City midfielder / striker David Silva has finally broken his way back into first team consideration on the back of his own phenomenal Premier League performances. Plus, a still inconsistent Fernando Torres of Chelsea is still regularly making the Spain squad, albeit on the bench.

It seems harsh then that a player who is performing so consistently at club level should be overlooked merely because he is not playing in the Spanish League. It is no exaggeration to state that Enrique has consistently been one of Liverpool’s two best players thus far during the Premier League campaign, picking up a couple of Man of the Match awards along the way. In addition, I would feel comfortable in saying that he is one of the Premier League’s top full-backs right now with perhaps only Manchester City’s right-back Micah Richards and Chelsea’s left-back extraordinaire Ashley Cole ahead of him.

Football fans from countries other than Spain may hope that Enrique continues to be overlooked since that left flank may well be one of the few areas on the field where other teams can actually trouble Spain. Nevertheless, you have to feel that Enrique will receive his first international call up sooner rather than later. If Enrique continues to perform at such a high level for his club, Vicente del Bosque simply can’t overlook this Liverpool man any longer.

This article was written by Alex Watt and is courtesy of our partner website thisisfutbol.com. Read the latest news and blogs about European Football at TiF. – ed

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