Fermín López's World Cup Dream Shattered by Foot Fracture
Spain and Barcelona have been dealt a brutal blow, with midfielder Fermín López expected to miss the World Cup after suffering a fractured foot in Barça’s 3-1 win over Real Betis.
The 23-year-old broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot on Sunday, an injury Barcelona later confirmed, adding that he will undergo surgery. The club stopped short of giving a return date, but the nature of the problem tells its own story.
For a footballer, that tiny bone can be season‑shaping. Fifth metatarsal fractures routinely sideline players for two to three months, sometimes longer when complications strike. Lisandro Martínez knows it too well: the Manchester United and Argentina defender had surgery on the same bone in April 2023, missed the rest of that campaign and then aggravated the injury soon after returning at the start of the following season.
For López, the timing could hardly be worse.
From Barça breakthrough to World Cup heartbreak
Over the past two seasons, López has moved from promising talent to established pillar in Barcelona’s midfield. He has helped the Catalan giants to back-to-back La Liga titles, forcing his way into a star-studded side with a mix of energy, timing and end product that quickly caught the eye of Luis de la Fuente.
This year, he has been one of Barça’s most productive players: 13 goals and 17 assists in 48 appearances in all competitions, numbers that stand out even more given he twice battled back from groin injuries during the campaign. Each time he returned, he added another layer to his game. Each time, his case for a World Cup place grew stronger.
By spring, his inclusion with Spain felt less like a debate and more like a formality.
López has already broken into the national team, winning seven caps and featuring—albeit briefly—in Spain’s triumphant Euro 2024 run, playing 28 minutes in the tournament. The World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico was set to be his second major finals, the natural next step for a player on a steep upward curve.
Now, it looks like that chance will slip away before De la Fuente even reads out the squad list.
Spain forced into a rethink
The Spain coach will announce his World Cup squad on Monday, 25 May. López, fit and firing, would almost certainly have been in it. Instead, De la Fuente must redraw his plans for Group H without one of his most dynamic midfield options.
Spain open their World Cup campaign against Cape Verde in Atlanta on Monday, 15 June (17:00 BST), then face Uruguay and Saudi Arabia in what had looked an ideal stage for López’s blend of late runs, pressing and creativity. His absence removes a different profile from Spain’s engine room, one that had offered a bridge between Barça form and international impact.
The pressure on Spain’s other attacking midfielders now sharpens. The fixtures are fixed. The tournament will not wait.
For López, the calendar is far less forgiving. Surgery comes first, then the slow grind of rehabilitation, all while the World Cup plays out without him on the other side of the Atlantic.
Barcelona know the script: protect an asset who has become central to their domestic dominance, manage his recovery, and hope the fracture heals cleanly enough to avoid the kind of setbacks Martínez endured. Spain, meanwhile, must move on, at least for this summer.
A rising midfielder, a fractured metatarsal, a World Cup slipping away. The question now is not whether Fermín López would have shone on the biggest stage, but how quickly he can fight his way back to be ready for the next one.
