Lately, Rudi Garcia undoubtedly had an eye on the performance of Lille, his former club. The Belgium coach had to monitor the fitness of Thomas Meunier, an executive with the Red Devils (78 caps) and his teammate Nathan Ngoy, who celebrated his first two caps with the A during the March rally.
At the same time, Rudi Garcia could also be interested in the situation of Matias Fernandez-Pardo. The 21-year-old Belgian-Spanish striker finished the season quite strongly, with 5 goals and 2 assists in Losc’s last nine matches.
The problem is that the player, after wearing the Belgium jersey until U19, had decided to play for Spain. “My heart beats for La Roja and it is with Spain that I would like to play,” confided Matias Fernandez-Pardo at the end of 2024, in an interview with Marca.
A timely reinforcement for Rudi Garcia
In the process, the former La Gantoise player refused several call-ups with the Belgian hopefuls, while awaiting a call from the Spanish selection. Obviously, he changed his mind. The official account of the Red Devils welcomed him this Wednesday, just two days before Rudi Garcia’s list for the 2026 World Cup.
Good news for Belgium, because Rudi Garcia “ faces a lot of problems on the attacking front, notably because Romelu Lukaku is lacking rhythm and Lois Openda (almost) no longer plays at Juventus »according to 7sur7. Matias Fernandez-Pardo therefore has a great card to play.
