Those were the words of Spain’s head coach Montse Tome at a news conference in May as she announced yet another squad without Jenni Hermoso.
It was the fourth time in a row that Hermoso, Spain’s all-time top scorer with 57 goals, was left out. She was La Roja’s starting centre-forward as they lifted the 2023 World Cup but has not appeared in any squad for her national team since October.
“I am clear about what I want from the team, what I want from the players when they are off the pitch: that camaraderie, that poise,” Tome said in November 2024, when she omitted Hermoso for the first time. “We want to launch that line of work and that is where we are going to focus.”
Back then, Hermoso was left out along with Irene Paredes and goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez. Curiously, that came after all three players were involved in the Netflix documentary It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football, in which they and fellow Spain team-mate Alexia Putellas spoke about what had happened behind the scenes at the Spanish football federation (RFEF) since 2022.
That story has been well covered. In 2022, 15 of Spain’s players sent an email to the RFEF declaring themselves unavailable for selection by their national team until things changed in terms of the federation’s treatment of the women’s game. They spent months not playing for Spain and only three returned to play in the 2023 World Cup, which Spain won. During the celebrations, RFEF president Luis Rubiales gave Hermoso an unconsented kiss, which resulted in a trial this February where Rubiales was found guilty of sexual assault and fined more than €10,000 (£8,600; $11,800).
Hermoso is in the twilight of her career at 35 years old and has just left Mexican side Tigres UANL, but it is easy to understand why reporters have asked Tome so much about her absence. She is a proven goalscorer who was key at the 2023 World Cup, scoring three times and winning the Silver Ball award for the second-best player of the tournament, only behind her team-mate Aitana Bonmati.
So, who will be this Spain team’s star striker in her absence?
For a start, the team’s goals are evenly distributed among the team — and this is especially true of star midfielders Putellas and Bonmati (who was diagnosed with viral meningitis but discharged from hospital on Sunday). Putellas was Barcelona’s second-highest scorer in the 2024-25 season with 22 goals, while Bonmati scored 15 in her lowest scoring campaign in the last four years. Their fellow Barca and Spain winger Salma Paralluelo scored 13 times despite taking a three-month break from the game to adjust her training regime to prevent injury (she started out combining football and athletics).
However, in terms of individual names that stand out above the rest, it is hard to look beyond Claudia Pina after a sensational end to the season with Barcelona.
The 23-year-old winger can create goals out of nothing. She finished the season as the Champions League’s top scorer with 10 goals despite not being an undisputed starter, helping her side to the final (where they lost 1-0 against Arsenal). She scored 22 times across all competitions.
Six months ago, Pina was not even in Tome’s plans. In fact, she was one of the players who was relegated to Spain’s under-23s from the senior team after Tome took charge in September 2023. She had been one of ‘Las 15’ who did not return for the World Cup.
Now, there is no question of her making the Euros squad. In Spain’s Nations League game against England in June, she came on in the 58th minute with her side losing 1-0, scored two minutes later with her first touch and then the eventual winner in the 70th minute. Her second was a work of art, a fine shot from outside the area that nestled in the top corner.
These Euros could not have come at a better time for Pina. She is full of energy, even when she is not in the starting line-up, and brings accuracy, audacity and talent. She could be set for a breakout tournament in Switzerland.
Esther Gonzalez is the closest player to Hermoso in terms of her position. The Gotham FC centre-forward joined the NWSL side from Real Madrid after the World Cup win and has flourished since then, recently renewing her deal with the club until 2027.
She remains the second highest scorer in Madrid’s brief history in the women’s game, with 39 goals across three seasons with the club. Moving to the United States has made her physically stronger and more complete.
After a spell out of the squad, she returned in March and has scored three goals in her last four games for Spain. She is a regular for the team at 32 years old and was one of their captains at the World Cup.
Then there is Mariona Caldentey. The former Barca forward scored 16 goals in her debut season for Arsenal. At Barca, she tended to be underrated among a host of stars and was not a regular in the starting line-up, partly due to injuries she suffered.
Caldentey has come into her own in the Women’s Super League and was an important player in Arsenal’s Champions League triumph against her old club in May. She can play up front and as an attacking midfielder.
In her last season at Barca, coach Jonatan Giraldez used her as a No 9, although she admits this is not her ideal position and she tended to play as a left-winger in Catalonia.
Tome is using Caldentey as a right-winger, but wherever she plays, she has a knack for scoring goals. Coming into the tournament in Switzerland as one of the top contenders for the Ballon d’Or, we could see her play an even more prominent role.
There are other options too, not least Alba Redondo and Paralluelo.
Redondo was Real Madrid’s top scorer in Liga F this season with 15 goals and the fourth highest in the league. Paralluelo, meanwhile, played a key role in the World Cup, scoring the goal against the Netherlands that sent Spain through to the semi-finals and another against Sweden in the semi-final. But she is a winger rather than an out-and-out striker like Hermoso.
What is clear, though, is that Spain will not be short of scoring options, even in Hermoso’s absence.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Spain, Women’s Soccer, Women’s Euros
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