Yamal has missed end of Barcelona’s season with a hamstring problem and has been joined on the sidelines by Nico Williams who is out with a similar problem.
Spain’s first game of the tournament is against Cape Verde on June 9th and De la Fuente thinks his team should be in good shape by then.
“I think we’ll have Lamine, Nico, and Mikel available for the first World Cup match, and if not, we’ll have them for the second or third. It doesn’t cause any major problems,” he told the media.
”The injuries are putting us under pressure. Any injuries that occur now, even minor ones, are difficult to recover from. Nico’s is less severe; we’ll have him back in 3-4 weeks.”
Spain’s other two group games are against Saudi Arabia on June 21st and Uruguay on June 27th.