Fermín - from the First Federation to the National Team
The rise of Fermín López has been meteoric, with the Barcelona player as decisive last year wearing the shirt of Linares Deportivo in the Primera Federación as he has been this season wearing the Barcelona shirt at the elite level of football. At 21 years old, born in El Campillo (Huelva), this Andalusian has been one of the breakthrough sensations of the current season and Luis de la Fuente has rewarded his enormous evolution by including him in the list of 29 players who have been preparing for the Euros in Las Rozas since last Saturday,.
‘It's been quite a year, and to get the call from the national team... I could never have imagined it, after everything I've been through, but well, it's been good. The effort and sacrifice has been worth it. Last year I was playing in the First RFEF and now I'm here, it's hard to imagine, but I'm very happy", summarises Fermín.
His first few days in the senior squad have been dizzying, but being brave as he is, he gives it his all in every training session and is ready to continue growing with Spain. Fermín made the leap to Barça's first team and has played 42 games, scoring 11 goals along the way and has been one of the sensations of the Catalan side. ‘It's a great group, they are all good people and from the very beginning they have helped me settle in’ he says. He also reveals about his debut with the senior team that he is well aware of everything he has to do since Luis de la Fuente has been clear in his instructions to him, demanding: ‘Dynamism, intensity, making late runs into the box and scoring goals... It's what they have asked of me. That's what I'm going to bring’.
Just a short while ago, he was battling on the fields of the demanding Primera Federación with Linares, on loan from Barcelona so that he could get his first taste of the playing competitive football in the Primera Federación: ‘It was a reality check. It was a difficult situation at the beginning, adapting there.... At Barça I had all the facilities and at Linares maybe not. It was a reality check, it helped me to mature, to become a man. They helped me a lot and I was able to become the person I am’.
And he is thankful to teammates who treated him with well and made him feel at home at the team from Jaén. Teammates, who have become friends forever, gave Fermín a big surprise with moving messages full of affection: ‘I miss them a lot. These three people helped me a lot. I was a kid, I didn't even know how to make macaroni, and they helped me to mature both on and off the pitch. They are friends that football gives you, I'm very grateful to them and I love them very much’.
In a way, he is now in charge of looking after and protecting Lamine Yamal in the national team, someone with whom he has a very close bond. ‘Lamine looks older than his age, but I have to look after him from time to time, give him a little clip around the ear, otherwise he relaxes... The truth is that we have a very good relationship and we are like the little brothers here’.
Fermín is ready to fight like nobody else to be at the European Championships, nothing would be more important for the Andalusian and for his loved ones, who he remembers at all times because of how difficult this journey to the elite has been: ‘above all, I remember my family. They are the ones who have had the worst time with me by a distance. I know they will be watching me and I hope they can enjoy it’.