Dani Olmo: I had to choose Spain over Croatia

Dinamo Zagreb winger Dani Olmo has explained Croatia wanted to call him up for the national team but he held out for Spain.

The rising star received his first call-up to the senior Spain squad for the games against Malta and Romania this month, but did qualify to play for Croatia due to his spell in the nation.

Olmo joined Dinamo as part of the swap deal which saw Alen Halilovic move to Barcelona in 2015 and has since emerged as a star for the Croatian club.

The winger is now 21 and previous reports have claimed the Catalan club have now made contact over the future of the highly-rated player, who has also been linked to Ajax and Tottenham.

The winger starred for his nation in the Under-21 Championships victory this summer, netting in the 2-1 final victory over Germany – and he could have a market valuation of €25m.

“There was interest from Croatia to play with them, but my intention was to play with Spain. In the end that is how it materialised,” explained Olmo to his press conference, as cited by Marca.

“Now I must work very hard to impress and hope to go to the European Championships next summer.”

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