Munir El Haddadi made his official debut for Spain against FYR Macedonia last night at the tender age of just 19 years and 7 days. But that doesn’t make him the youngest Barça player ever to win his first Spanish cap. Bojan Krkic and Josep Samitier were even younger when first called upon to wear the national jersey.
Bojan made his Spanish international debut on September 10, 2008 against Armenia at the age of 18 years and 13 days. Samitier, meanwhile, was 18 years and 208 days old in 1920, when he played the first of 21 games for Spain.
Munir is younger than one of Samitier’s contemporaries, Vicenç Piera, was when he made his first appearance for Spain at the age of 19 years and 189 days. The fifth man on the list is goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora, who was 19 years and 220 days old when he played his first game.
It was common for players to make their international debuts at a much younger age in the early 20th century than it is nowadays. In fact, Munir is the fourth youngest debutant of the last seventy years, behind only the aforementioned Bojan, as well as Cesc and Sergio Ramos.
